


Eclipse

by ahogeboy



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, M/M, Mishima Yuuki Has A Palace, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Past Abuse, Running Away, Suicidal Thoughts, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2019-10-10 09:58:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17423735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahogeboy/pseuds/ahogeboy
Summary: Yuuki Mishima, the Phantom Thieves biggest supporter and admin of the Phansite, has been acting noticeably different lately, so Akira and the others decide to check to see if he has a Shadow wandering Mementos- Only to discover that a Palace has formed.(based on tumblr user @an-na-ko's palace au!)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I literally wrote this first chapter in one day so sorry if there's any mistakes ;;w;;

“Don’t you think Mishima’s been acting a little, um… Strange? Not to sound rude or anything, but…” Ann hesitantly broke the thick silence that had filled the attic of LeBlanc, unsure if it was right of her to say something like that about the Phantom Thieves greatest supporter. Thankfully, there were no scoldings at her mention of his behavior- Just a resounding sigh of relief from most of the other members. Seems they were all thinking the same thing.

“Man, I was just thinkin’ the same thing!” Ryuji huffed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “He’s been a total weirdo lately. Like, I get he’s probably upset about the whole Okumura incident, but jeez… Somethin’ about him just rubs me the wrong way. Especially with some of the requests he’s been sendin’ to us.” 

Akira silently nodded in agreement, his usual calm expression still present on his face, although deep down he was quite troubled by the whole situation. After all, out of all the Phantom Thieves, he was the one closest to Mishima, so of course he’d noticed his odd behavior in the past few weeks. He always looked so worn down, with dark bags under his eyes, his hair never combed, and he was constantly either working on or talking about the Phansite. It was like his phone was glued to his hand, he never set it down, even when he was supposed to be eating lunch- It was clearly taking a toll on his health. And, as time passed, it was becoming more and more obvious he was trying to further his own desires through the Mementos requests, rather than just trying to help people… It was starting to become a serious issue.

“Should we try and find his shadow?” Makoto suggested. “If his desires really have become corrupted, then we should put a stop to it before it gets too out of hand. We don’t want to have to deal with another Palace, especially so soon after Okumura…”

The rest of the group solemnly nodded in agreement, before looking to their leader for approval. Akira was hesitant to go and confront his friends shadow, in all honesty, he wanted to believe that Mishima wasn’t corrupt, but Makoto was right. If he did have a shadow, it would be irresponsible to just ignore it and let another palace appear. “Alright. Let’s go.” He opened the MetaNav with a sigh, before they entered Mementos. 

\---------------------------

“God, where the hell is he?” Ryuji groaned. It had been at least 2 hours of searching for Mishima’s shadow, but it seemed it was in vain. “He’s gotta be around here somewhere, right? There’s like, no way he _doesn’t_ have a shadow lurkin’ around, not with the way he’s been acting.” With a frustrated sigh he kicked his feet up on the dashboard, his arms tightly crossed over his chest. “You really can’t sense him anywhere, Morgana?”

“Hey, don’t get snappy with me!” Morgana retorted. “I’m doing my best here, and I seriously can’t detect him anywhere in Mementos. He might have a shadow, but I’m telling you, it’s not here.”

“Ugh, this sucks.” Ann was tired of this as well, examining her nails in boredom. She really just wanted to go home already… A moment later however, her irritated look evaporated as what Morgana had just said truly set in, and the van descended into silence.

“Is it possible we’re too late already? If he’s not in Mementos, then…” Haru was reluctant to bring up the possibility, biting her lip nervously at the thought. “I apologize if it was out of line to ask that, I truly don’t know him very well…” 

“No, it’s fine, I think we were all thinking the same thing.” Ann reassured, smiling at the newest addition to their team. “I don’t think it would hurt to check, just in case. That would be better than driving aimlessly around here for another hour.”

Akira stopped the van, pulling up his phone and once again opening up the MetaNav app, typing in ‘Yuuki Mishima’ before pausing. What was he supposed to put down for the location and keyword? “Any ideas?” He asked, voice still calm despite how troubled he was. 

“How about the Phansite? Since that’s all he ever talks about, according to you guys.” Futaba suggested with a quiet snicker, before getting more serious. “Plus, isn’t that like the most important thing to him? He seems pretty into it, yeah?” 

_‘Yuuki Mishima - Phansite - ____’_

Akira thought for a moment, before typing in the next keyword. He knew Mishima best, so if anyone would have an accurate guess at this, it would be him. The Phansite was the only place he could hide from the pain of the real world, the only place he had any control, any power.

_‘Yuuki Mishima - Phansite - Sanctuary’_

For the first time in a long while, he felt anxiety form a knot in his stomach. He really hoped they were wrong about Mishima, that he was just… Too far away in Mementos to detect. Palaces were only for the truly corrupt, or so he’d thought, and he still thought Mishima was a good person deep down. His stomach sank when he saw that there was a palace that matched that description, a deep frown creasing his face. 

“... We’ve done enough searching for today. We’ll investigate this tomorrow.” Akira stated, his usual unfazed tone laced with disbelief, before turning off his phone. “Let’s get out of here.” This was going to be… Difficult, to say the least.

\---------------------------

Akira’s phone buzzed just as he was falling asleep, waking him with a start. His heart sank in his chest once more when he saw it was Mishima, almost not wanting to read it- But it would be even more irresponsible of him not to read it.

**Yuuki:** Hey, I’ve got some new targets that you might be interested in!  
**Yuuki:** It might be better to talk about it in person, if you’re free tomorrow.  
**You:** i’ll see if I have any plans tomorrow  
**You:** … it’s late though, you should get to sleep  
**Yuuki:** Oh, sorry if I woke you up…  
**Yuuki:** I was just working on the Phansite, so I didn’t realize how late it was.  
**Yuuki:** Well, I’ll just text you tomorrow if you can’t meet up. ‘Night!  
**You:** yeah, ‘night. 

Mishima cursed under his breath as he set down his phone, turning back to his computer screen. He worked his ass off for him every single day, even when everyone else was turning on the Phantom Thieves, and he still couldn’t take some time out of his day to just talk to him? Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered with this… Not that he didn’t consider Akira his friend- He was one of his only friends, not to mention Akira saved him- It was just frustrating feeling so unappreciated all the time. Was being thanked for his hard work too much to ask? Maybe he shouldn’t expect too much, after all, he was a nobody. Of course they wouldn’t remember to thank him.

He bit the inside of his cheek as he continued to tap away at his keyboard, scrolling through the Phansite comments. These fair-weather fans, doubting the Phantom Thieves… He wouldn’t allow them to say such things on _his_ website, a sanctuary for himself and others who truly believed in them. Comments like that, condemning or distrusting the Phantom Thieves, only spread the idea that they were somehow unjust, that they were criminals and terrorists- His future, his fame depended on the Phantom Thieves, so he wouldn’t tolerate such ideology. 

_He would be nothing without the Phantom Thieves, and the Phantom Thieves wouldn’t be as big as they were now without him…_ He felt like he was the only one who fully realized that as he started to drift off at his keyboard.

\---------------------------

Akira made his way to school in a daze, grey eyes unfocused as he quietly waited for his stop on the train. He still couldn’t believe it, in all honesty… Was this his fault? If he had noticed sooner, if he’d brought it up to his friends earlier, then maybe… He shook his head, trying to get those thoughts out of his head. He should focus on how to fix this rather than blaming himself. After all, there was no way to change the past.

He scanned the room for Mishima as soon as he entered, however it seemed that he was running late again. No surprise there, but it was still concerning. He probably stayed up late working on the Phansite again, given that he mentioned that while texting him last night. He sat down at his desk, all while watching the door for his friend- And alas, he finally came stumbling in, and in all honesty he looked like hell. It was obvious he hadn’t gotten a good night's sleep for a long while now, and this morning was no exception. He furrowed his brows slightly at the way he slumped down at his desk as soon as he sat down, head resting on his arm, before he immediately whipped out his phone. 

“Hey, Mishima.” He addressed him as he made his way over to his desk, lightly tapping him on the shoulder. The boy jerked up at the sudden touch, yelping a bit in surprise before realizing it was only Akira.

“A-ah! Oh, hey Kurusu… Did you need something? I don’t think I have enough time to tell you about, uh… The requests right now, so…” He nervously fumbled for words, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed by how startled he’d been a moment ago.

“No, it’s not that. I just noticed you seem pretty worn out lately.” It was hard to act normally around him now that he knew about his palace, but luckily Akira was a master at keeping his cool. Still, he had never been great at voicing his concerns for his friends. “Maybe you should take a break from the Phansite.”

Mishima’s eyes widened at that, before he quickly shook his head. “No, no, I’m fine, really! It’s more important now than ever to be active on there, with what happened to Okumura and all… Anyways, you don’t need to worry about me.” He tried to give a reassuring smile, however it was clear something was weighing on him. 

Akira frowned a bit, but it was clear to him Mishima wasn’t budging, and class was going to start soon. “If you say so. Seriously though, try to get some rest.” He made his way back to his desk, although knowing what he had to do after school today made it difficult to concentrate on the lesson. What dark secrets would Mishima’s palace reveal about him? He wondered… 

\---------------------------

“Is everyone ready?” Yusuke asked, earning a nod from the rest of the Thieves, who had once again grouped up in the attic of LeBlanc after school.

“Alright.” Akira wasn’t looking forward to this in the slightest, but he knew it had to be done, so he pulled out the MetaNav regardless of if he wanted to or not. 

_‘Yuuki Mishima - Phansite - Sanctuary’_  
**ENTER.**

The first thing Akira was greeted by upon entering was a blinding flash of light, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut. Squinting through his mask, he opened his eyes again, now realizing that the flash of light was from a camera. In fact, there were camera flashes everywhere, seeing as they were completely surrounded by a paparazzi, all cheering and raving about someone, pretty much completely ignoring the presence of the Phantom Thieves. 

_“He’s so amazing, isn’t he?” “He saved me!” “We love you!” “Can I have your autograph?!” “They couldn’t do it without him!”_ The faceless shadows never seemed to stop chattering, almost every word that came out of their mouth some sort of praise. Furrowing his brows, Akira pushed through the crowd, his teammates following him closely behind as to not get lost in the sea of shadows, until he was finally able to get a good view of what the crowd was cheering about- And he stopped in his tracks.

“What the hell…?” Ryuji muttered, but the leader was stunned into silence at the sight. 

Yuuki Mishima, dressed to the nines in clothes that looked like they’d come right off of a runway, golden eyes glowing as he basked in all the attention he was getting, grinning at all his fans. And at his side, smiling gently and whispering praises into his ear, was… _Akira Kurusu himself._


	2. Chapter 2

Akira Kurusu hadn’t known what to expect going in, but seeing himself standing there, well… He couldn’t have predicted this. The fake Akira was dressed up as well, equally as fancy as Mishima, and on top of that, he was perfect. Not a single raven hair on his head was out of place, pale hand kept on the shadow’s waist, never leaving his side. Was this truly how Mishima saw him? Was this how Mishima wanted him to act? His mind was reeling, but a hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality. 

“I know how shocking it can be, but just hang in there, alright?” Ann smiled at him, being one of the only people in the group that could understand how strange it was to see a cognitive version of yourself. Akira nodded, before turning his attention back to the red carpet that Mishima and the cognitive Akira stood upon. Mishima was just answering questions and soaking in all the attention from the paparazzi, not seeming to have noticed them in the crowd yet, always keeping the cognitive Akira close to him. After a minute or two, he decided he’d had enough, turning around to head back to the building at the end of the red carpet- Blowing a kiss to the crowd as he did. Of course, the fans went wild, their cheers almost deafening as they all chased after him.

“The hell, man… Is that seriously how he views the Phansite?” Ryuji mumbled, shaking his head. “And Joker, too-”

“Let’s get a move on.” He cut Ryuji off, not wanting to talk about it. His stomach was twisted into knots, the troubled feeling in his mind only growing, however he needed to push past it. He was the leader of the Phantom Thieves, after all, he couldn’t let them all down. He followed the red carpet down to the towering building that the shadow had entered, the rest of the team following behind in an awkward silence. Nothing up until now had affected Akira this personally, so it was hard to know what they could say without crossing a line. 

Inside the palace doors held a new sight- The bottom floor was a large room, with some paparazzi that had managed to force their way in, with many screens on the walls displaying a feed of comments from the Phansite. Most of them were pretty normal, speculations on the Phantom Thieves and requests for help, however any malicious comments that appeared were soon deleted moments later. The walls behind the screens were plastered with posters of the Phantom Thieves, a few even including Mishima himself. Everywhere they looked, it was just _Phantom Thieves, Phantom Thieves, Phantom Thieves._

“This is seriously over the top, even for him.” Futaba commented, eyes scanning over the various comments that were continuously appearing. “This is like, the epitome of fanboy obsession.”

“Yeah, but like, what gives with there only being a fake Joker if he supposedly likes all of us?” Ryuji crossed his arms, pouting a bit. “I’m just as cool as him, y’know!”

“Well, it’s not like the rest of us have been very good friends…” Ann admitted, now feeling a bit guilty. “I mean, do the rest of us ever invite Mishima to hang out, or even text him? It makes sense that he feels the closest to Joker.”

“I must admit, it never really crossed my mind to invite him anywhere until now, ever since he called me an ‘eccentric’.” Yusuke sighed, still a little bitter about the whole incident. “But he’s a hard worker. I suppose I could’ve talked to him more…”

“Well, there’s no use feeling bad about it now. The best thing we can do for him for the time being is steal his heart.” Makoto told them firmly, before glancing towards the stairs at the edge of the wide room. “He must’ve gone that way. Let’s search this room and make sure there’s nothing important here before following.”

\---------------------------

“Alright, should we head up?” Ryuji asked- There was nothing of value on the first floor, determined after a thorough inspection, just Phantom Thieves merchandise and a few stray paparazzi.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Akira agreed, but as soon as his foot hit the first step, he heard an odd noise, like the clattering of wood and the sound of a strong wind. The sight he was met with when he turned around once more was an odd one, to put it lightly- A strange figure stood in the middle of the room, appearing human but not quite, moving in jerky movements as if it were a puppet- It was a copy of Yusuke coming towards them, black smoke swirling around his feet.

“The hell…? Another one of these?” Ryuji muttered, glaring at the puppet-like version of their team member. 

“I take back what I said earlier about trying harder to be friends with him.” Yusuke huffed, clearly offended that Mishima viewed him as some sort of puppet to be controlled.

“This things like, _totally_ uncanny valley…” Futaba muttered with a grimace. “It’s a lot different from the cognitive Joker from earlier, though. This thing is way less… Real.”

“Are you going after my managers heart?” The puppet asked, an eerie smile on its face. “He’s only doing what’s best for us, you know. You should trust him, like the rest of us do.”

“Like hell we are!” Ryuji barked back, and just like that the false Yusuke landed a hit on him, almost knocking him to the ground. “Shit-!”

_“Looks like I’ll just have to change your hearts, then~”_

\---------------------------  
Despite his almost fragile appearance, the cognitive Yusuke was harder to beat than he looked- But nothing the real Phantom Thieves couldn’t handle. Still, the battle left most of the team fairly worn out. Mishima might view the other Phantom Thieves like puppets, but he still viewed them as strong- Strong enough to put up a decent fight, at least. 

“If this is just how he sees Yusuke, then… I can’t imagine how strong that Joker is gonna be. This is gonna be a tough one, huh?” Ann mused, frowning slightly. “I’m sure we can do it, but still… It doesn’t help that we know him, too. Like, how’s he gonna react when we inevitably have to send the calling card?”

“Yeah, I know…” Makoto sighed, rubbing her temples. “I’m sure he’ll understand afterwards, though. I can’t see him turning his back on the Phantom Thieves anytime soon. Anyways… Let’s head to the next-”

“We should go.” Akira cut in bluntly, expression indecipherable. There was a growing discomfort in his chest, and for the first time he truly felt overwhelmed by a palace, like he couldn’t stay here any longer. “We can come back tomorrow.”

“Joker…” Ann wanted to ask if he was alright, but she knew he would say yes no matter what the truth was. She knew that she would react the same way if say, Shiho had a palace, so she couldn’t blame feeling this way. “Alright, if you say so. We don’t exactly have a deadline this time, so there’s no need to rush.” Hopefully that would make him feel a little better… 

As soon as the Phantom Thieves were transported back into the real world, everyone headed home, sensing that Akira wanted to be alone- Though not without a few words of comfort from his friends. He flopped down on his bed as soon as they left, biting his lip and trying to make sense of the situation. There was no way Mishima was nearly as corrupt as the enemies they’d fought before- Although he supposed Futaba had a Palace at one point as well, so maybe he shouldn’t be so surprised. After all, Mishima definitely got the short end of the stick most of the time. He’d faced so much abuse from Kamoshida, his parents didn’t care enough to worry about the injuries he came home with daily, not to mention the bullies… It was understandable that he’d see the Phantom Thieves as his last hope, his last chance at being somebody. Maybe if he could make Mishima understand that he didn’t need the Phantom Thieves in order to be successful in life, then maybe… 

“Morgana. Is it possible for a shadow to have a change of heart without stealing their treasure?” Akira asked quietly, staring up at the ceiling.

“Er, I mean, I’ve never seen that happen myself, but… I guess I can’t rule it out as a possibility. Shadows are the manifestations of people’s distorted desires, so if you could change his desires in some other way, then… Maybe it’d be possible? Don’t quote me on that, though. I don’t know for sure.” Morgana responded, curling up on the end of the bed, blinking his blue eyes at Akira. “Is that how you’re planning to handle this?”

He didn’t answer, he simply paused for a moment before picking up his phone, pulling up his text messages. He could at least _try_ to change him this way- if anyone would be able to have a change of heart willingly, it was Mishima. That’s what he wanted to believe at least, he really wanted to think his friend wasn’t too far gone in his own distorted fantasy yet. Since they only had a half day of school tomorrow, given it was a Saturday, he would have plenty of time to spend. 

**You:** hey. you free tomorrow?  
**Yuuki:** Yeah. Is this about the requests?  
**You:** not really. just thought we could hang out.  
**You:** it’s fine if you don’t want to, i just thought it would be nice to just hang without it being so formal. you’re my friend, yknow.  
**Yuuki:** Really?? I’d be happy to!! 

Mishima cringes as soon as he sends the text, flipping his phone face down on his desk so he wouldn’t have to see the response right away. Had he sounded too excited…? In all honesty, the very proposal sounded like some kind of joke. After all, until he got famous, he was a boring nobody. Other than to check in on the Phansite, he couldn’t see why someone as cool as Kurusu would want to hang around him. Admittedly, though, at Kurusu’s mention of them being friends, he feels a flutter of hope in his chest. He never had many friends, so… If he truly considered him a friend he wanted to be around, then that would overjoy him. 

**Akira:** cool. meet me after school, then?  
**You:** Yeah, that works for me!

He sighed in relief, glad that Kurusu didn’t think he was weird or something, before he found himself with a dumb smile on his face, heart beating a little faster in excitement. It had been a long time since he’d hung out with a friend just for the sake of spending time together… Hopefully he wasn’t too out of practice.

Akira smiled a bit to himself at Mishima’s response. He seemed really happy, though he felt a pang in his heart when he realized this probably didn’t happen for Mishima often, giving him reason to be so excited. He then remembered he should probably tell his team about his plans tomorrow, a little worried about what they’d think, but he’d already made up his mind.

 **You:** morgana said it might be possible for someone’s heart to change without taking their treasure  
**You:** so i think im gonna see if i can change mishimas heart myself.  
**You:** im gonna meet up with him tomorrow.  
**Ann:** Really? Do you think he can just change like that?  
**Haru:** I guess we’ll have to see for ourselves…  
**Ryuji:** aw man, as weird as that palace was i wanted to kick some shadow ass ://  
**You:** don’t worry, we’ll still go to his palace plenty  
**You:** if his heart can’t be changed in the time it takes us to find the treasure, we can send the calling card.  
**You:** and going to his palace might give me more info on how to help him  
**You:** i just thought i might as well try.  
**Makoto:** That’s an interesting idea… Make sure to tell us how it goes.

Akira turned off his phone, setting his glasses aside and pulling the covers over him. It wasn’t quite time for bed yet, but after that he could honestly use a good nap. 

Mishima’s smiled faded as he set down his phone, once again focusing on his computer screen. Deleting spam and hate, sorting through Mementos requests, the same thing he did every day. It was a strange feeling, choosing which requests to send to the Phantom Thieves. He was the one who chose who deserved to be helped, he chose who got saved. Finally, he had some power in this world, although tonight he wouldn’t choose any of these requests from other people. No, the requests he wanted to tell Kurusu about were his own requests- though he wouldn’t be telling anyone that, he would make Kurusu believe there were other people asking for the hearts of these bullies to be changed. They truly deserved it, after all. They were the ones who still made him feel like a zero, even after Kamoshida was locked away. 

_He was going to be famous after all, he couldn’t have people pushing him around anymore._


	3. Chapter 3

“Hey, Mishima.” Akira greeted him as he approached his desk, bag slung over his shoulder. He could tell Mishima was looking forward to this, his books already shoved messily in his bag and a genuine smile on his face- a rare sight to see, as sad as that was. He’d been a lot better since Kamoshida was locked up, but he still never seemed quite… Happy. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah, I am!” He grinned, standing up and starting to walk out of the classroom, Akira walking closely beside him. “So, where are we going? Er, I’m fine with anywhere, so it’s your choice, eheheh…” He chuckled, a bit nervously. In all honesty he was afraid this was going to be awkward, but he supposed if they ever fell into awkward silence, he always had the Phansite and requests to fall back on. 

“Cool. So you don’t mind going to that crepe place? I’ll pay, so don’t worry about the price.” Mishima’s face lit up at the suggestion, an expression that Akira couldn’t help but crack a smile at, before he saw his cheeks redden and his expression become flustered.

“W-wait wait wait- That’s way too expensive! I don’t really have any money right now, b-but I’ll pay you back sometime, I swear!” He insisted, but the Phantom Thief wouldn’t budge.

“Like I said, don’t worry about it.” He shrugged, ignoring the whispers of the students mingling in the hall as they passed. He was used to the murmurs by now, the rumors about him being a violent criminal. He didn’t care much about it, though- He had his friends, after all, why would he care what everyone else thought of him?

Mishima, on the other hand, winced as soon as he heard them, gaze shifting to the floor in front of him. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to it, he’d had his fair share of rumors and gossip spread about him, back in middle school and from when he was on the volleyball team. They were always putting him down… He unconsciously clenched his jaw at the memories, hands balled into fists. They wouldn’t get away with that for much longer, once they realized that he was important, that he could _be_ somebody, then… 

“Mishima?” Akira’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, only now realizing the slight look of concern on the Phantom Thief leaders face. Ugh, he probably thought he was weird now… He nervously laughed, shaking his head.

“Sorry, I’m just… Tired, ehehehe…” He scratched the back of his head, glancing awkwardly to the side. Of course he’d managed to mess everything up before they even got to the restaurant… He internally cursed at himself, but he managed to keep a smile on his face on the way to the crepe restaurant. He didn’t want Akira to think he wasn’t excited or something.

Akira held the door open for him as they entered the restaurant, with a joking “After you, manager”, before they sat down across from each other at a booth. There was a moment on silence as Mishima looked around, stomach growling as he caught a whiff of the sweet smell of crepes. 

“Hungry?” Akira chuckled, and Mishima gave him an embarrassed nod, staring down at the table.

“Haha, yeah, I am. I forgot to pack a lunch today, so…” He explained sheepishly, laughing a bit at his own forgetfulness. “I slept in on accident this morning, so I was in a rush. A-anyways, thanks again for bringing me here! Even if you won’t let me pay you back in cash, I’ll… I’ll work twice as hard as thanks!”

He slept in? Likely due to another late night working on the Phansite… He was honestly worried about his health at this point, but Mishima seemed so happy right now and frankly, Akira didn’t want to bring him down. It wasn’t often that he smiled like this, and it was such a heartwarming sight. “I appreciate your hard work, but seriously, you don’t need to pay me back in any way. You already work so hard, I really couldn’t ask for more. Plus, friends treat each other to things sometimes, don’t they?”

“If you say so… Just tell me if you need me to kick it up a notch, I’m always willing to give it my all for you guys.” He relented, though he was a little taken aback by the fact he’d just referred to them as friends. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that Akira truly thought of him as more than just a fanboy and the teams manager. He’d said that over text last night too, but hearing it in person… It honestly made his heart soar. 

“Believe me, you’re doing more than enough. Anyways, what do you think you’ll get?” Akira asked, picking up his own menu to look at his options. 

“Um… A strawberry crepe, I think. Those look really good…” Not to mention those were a lot cheaper than some of the fancier options- No matter what Kurusu said, he really didn’t want to put a strain on his wallet. “How about you?”

“Chocolate.” He answered simply, closing his menu again and setting down. He was honestly looking forward to seeing Mishima getting his crepe more than he was looking forward to his own. He never ate much at lunch, so it would be nice to see him actually eat properly for once. He was always working on his phone rather than eating- He was on his phone almost every time he saw him, actually.

“Ah, I bet that’ll be good.” Mishima chuckled, and that charming smirk came onto Akira’s face at the comment, an expression that made his heart flutter.

“I’ll share with you, if you want.” He said, voice smooth like butter. 

“Wh-what? No way! You’re already paying for mine, there’s no way I’m gonna eat some of yours too.” 

“I don’t mind.” Before Mishima could retort again, the waitress came to their table, and Akira went right ahead and ordered for them. _‘Why does he have to be so damn smooth?’_ Mishima huffed to himself- Well, he was the leader of the Phantom Thieves, of course he’d be so… **Perfect.**

Their crepes soon arrived, and Akira couldn’t help but chuckle at how eagerly Mishima dug into his food. He must be hungry, this was likely the first proper meal he’s had all day, considering he’d just told him he didn’t pack a lunch and that he was in a rush this morning, probably with no time to eat breakfast either. Still, he was so cute right now- However those fond thoughts were cut short as he reminded himself that he had a palace. Right, he was here because he wanted to help him put an end to his distorted desires. This wasn’t just a normal date. He’d have to get serious eventually…

“You sure you don’t want some of mine? You seem really hungry.” Akira asked again as he took a bite of his own crepe, prompting a shake of the head from Mishima, although he didn’t speak, due to his mouth being full. He waited a moment, racking his brain for something to say, before finally speaking again, tone more serious this time. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this for a while, Mishima- About you and the Phansite, I mean. I can tell it’s taking a toll on you, and the other Phantom Thieves and I have been a little worried.”

 _‘Why would they care?’_ The words are heavy on Mishima’s tongue, but he manages to bite back that response, the previously bright expression on his face now gone as he furrowed his brows and gave Akira a slightly confused look. “What do you mean? I’ve told you before, I’m fine. Really, you guys have more important things to worry about…” Of course, a part of him wished that what Akira was saying was true. He wanted to be important enough to be worried about, to be important enough for people to genuinely care about him- He wanted that more than anything- But he knew it wasn’t true. That’s why he craved it so badly. 

“Mishima, this is the first time in weeks I’ve seen you not working. We appreciate your dedication to the Phansite, but you need to take better care of yourself.” He continued, gray eyes staring his friend down. The other boy shifted uncomfortably, averting his eyes to stare down at the table. He always had trouble with keeping eye contact, he’d noticed. “Mishima, listen to me-”

“I have to go.” He interrupted him as he stood up abruptly, beginning to walk away- He couldn’t stand any of this… This _pity._ He knew everyone saw him as weak, but damn it, he was trying to prove himself! He was trying the best he could, using the Phantom Thieves- But no, he didn’t get any recognition, all he got was pity from everyone, since he’s apparently so pathetic- He wasn’t going to put up with it! He-

“Wait.” He felt Akira grab his wrist to stop him from leaving, and immediately every muscle in his body tensed up, a hard lump forming in his throat as memories he’d tried so hard to forget came flooding into his brain once more. He felt like he was there again, still at school when everyone else had long gone, **his** grip tight on his arm. The arm that was already littered with black and blue bruises, many fresh. _‘I should be used to this by now’,_ he would think to himself, but he would still tremble in fear at the angry yelling in his face, he would still cry through the punches and kicks and assaults, even though he knew nobody would hear him and come save him. _“You’re fucking pathetic.”_ **He** would say, so close he could feel his breath on his face. _“This is nothing! No wonder you’re letting everyone on the team down.” “Ha! Why are you crying? At least you can be fucking useful to me now.”_

“-shima? Mishima, are you okay?” He finally heard Akira’s voice as he snapped back to reality, shaking as tears he hadn’t even realized were there streamed down his face. He… He wasn’t there anymore. Kamoshida was in jail. He was… He was just in a crepe shop with Kurusu, that was all. “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… Let’s go to LeBlanc and get you calmed down, alright?” Mishima didn’t respond to his apology, he just nodded weakly, unable to say anything. What was there to say, anyways? Not only had he tried to run away from Akira, but he’d managed to embarrass himself and have a breakdown like that right in front of him- God, he wouldn’t be surprised if Akira never wanted to hang out with him again. He always managed to screw everything up… 

The walk to LeBlanc was quiet, Mishima keeping his eyes on the ground as his shaking subsided. He had almost stopped shaking completely by the time they arrived, Akira holding the door open for him as he entered, breathing in the familiar smell of freshly brewed coffee as he sat down at an empty table. Sojiro seemed to know that now wasn’t a good time to try and talk, as he stayed silent behind the counter, continuing to wash dishes. Akira sat across from him without a word, awkwardly fiddling with his thumbs. What was he supposed to say now? He’d invited him out to try and resolve things with him, but he’d only ended up making it worse. 

“I’m sorry, Mishima, I… I should’ve known not to grab you like that. I was just worried about you, and...” He finally apologized after a long silence, looking back up at him. Mishima shook his head, giving him a wobbly smile, though it was painfully obvious it was fake. 

“No, I-I don’t know how I could expect you to know something like that. I mean, it’s been so long since… You’d think I’d be over it by now, haha…” He laughed weakly, still unable to meet his gaze. “... I should probably get going now, right? I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome…” 

“No, it’s alright. Stay as long as you need.” Despite this, Mishima got up and left almost immediately, muttering a quick ‘see ya’ as he briskly left the coffee shop. Akira sighed, slumping down in his seat. Hopefully next time would go better… After a bit he made his way up to his room, opening up his text messages and sitting down on his bed.

 **You:** im back.  
**Makoto:** How did it go?  
**You:** not great. i think i accidentally gave him a panic attack.  
**Ryuji:** dude… yikes…  
**Haru:** Oh no, is he okay?  
**You:** he’s fine now. he just left.  
**Futaba:** F  
**Makoto:** What does that mean?  
**Ann:** Anyways… We still have enough time to go visit the palace  
**Ann:** If you’re all up for that, anyways.  
**You:** that’s fine by me.  
**Ryuji:** hell yeah, let’s go!!  
**Haru:** Okay! I’ll head over now!  
**Futaba:** omw  
**Makoto:** I agree as well. We should try to take care of this as soon as possible.  
**Yusuke:** Sorry, I had my phone on silent. I’ll head over there soon. 

Akira was about to set down his phone and prepare himself to head into the Metaverse, however his phone pinged with a notification from someone else- _Mishima._

 **Yuuki:** Hey, sorry about earlier ;;  
**Yuuki:** But anyways, I realized I forgot to tell you about the targets!  
**Yuuki:** I know I said it would be better to explain in person, but… 

He went on to describe a few people he claimed that many people had requested, that they continuously harassed people and other such things- just being general bullies. Still, as ordinary as this seemed, something about how… _Eager_ Mishima was for them to change their hearts told him something was different about these guys. He didn’t like the thought that Mishima might just be doing this for his own personal benefit rather than helping others, but the fact that he had a palace indicated that may be the truth of the matter. 

**You:** im about to head into mementos, so ill see if i can find them.  
**Yuuki:** Awesome! Thanks, Kurusu!

It was a lie, but hopefully that would get Mishima to forget about it for now. Finally turning his phone off and slipping it into his pocket, he headed downstairs to wait for his team, his chest feeling tight with anxiety. _Maybe this really was the only way he could help him…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the lack of Shadow Mishima and the Palace in this chapter, but there's gonna be a lot of that in the next one, so hopefully that makes up for it! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless!


	4. Chapter 4

“You ready to head in, Joker?” Makoto asked, shooting a concerned glance his way as the Phantom Thieves stood outside of the palace. Other than the lack of Mishima’s presence, nothing much had changed, and since the paparazzi wasn’t nearly as wild now that the shadow was hiding inside the building, it was a lot easier to get a good look at the actual palace. 

It had multiple stories, each floor getting smaller as it went up- It almost reminded Akira of a cake in that sense. The walls seemed to be made up of a dark red brick, though it was hard to see, as massive television screens took up most of the space on the outside of the building. The center screen on each floor showed a constant stream of comments, likely directly from the Phansite, although the further up it was the more comments got deleted, until there were almost none left near the top. The comments near the top were seldom about actually helping people- No, it they were all praising the Phantom Thieves and the admin. The other screens consisted of news clips reporting on the Phantom Thieves, although again, the closer it got to the top, the further up the screens were, the less it was actually about the Phantom Thieves, and the more it was just interviews with Mishima. 

In front of the building of course, there was a long red carpet, with a string of short poles and red fabric along it to keep the fans at bay. Next to the building was a giant, bright neon sign, with the words **“Yuuki Mishima’s wonderful PHANSITE!”** , ‘Phansite’ taking up the majority of the sign. It was similar to the iconic Las Vegas sign in appearance. 

“... Yeah, let’s go.” Joker nodded, leading the group back into the palace, pushing open the large glass doors as they once again entered the first floor. Again, much of it was the same, although when he looked closely at the walls, he now noticed a few newspaper clippings that had been hung up along with the posters- Newspaper articles about Kamoshida, although oddly enough, his name and face had been scribbled out in every single one of them, and a few of them contained events that hadn’t yet happened- Events that Mishima hoped would happen, perhaps.

‘Phantom Thieves steal ~~Kamoshida’s~~ heart’  
‘ ~~Kamoshida~~ arrested for abuse and sexual assault of students’  
~~‘Kamoshida~~ rots away and dies in jail’

He felt a pang of guilt in his chest, knowing this was likely due to the fact he’d reminded him of his trauma surrounding Kamoshida in the real world. At least he could rest at ease in the knowledge that he’d gotten Mishima and the other students out of that horrible situation, and that the former coach was now in prison. 

“Man, just seein’ that guy pisses me off…” Ryuji muttered as he noticed what Akira was staring at, before he lightly elbowed him. “C’mon, let’s head upstairs. There’s nothin’ left to see down here.”

Reluctantly, he agreed, and the group continued to the second floor, this time no cognitive Yusuke appearing to stop them. The second floor was smaller than the first, not by a significant amount, but enough for it to be noticeable. The decor was a bit different however, this floor seeming more like a museum exhibit, with items in glass cases and plaques describing what they were. The walls on the other hand still had multiple screens, with the usual flow of comments, although as they’d seen on the screens on the outside of the building, more and more comments were being deleted now. 

“This is… Strange…” Makoto commented, furrowing her brows as she started examining one of the displays, which contained a beat-up looking volleyball. There was a lot to look at, but the first thing to catch Akira’s eye was clearly the newest development in this section: A glass case containing a strawberry crepe and a chocolate crepe. Another wave of guilt washed over him- Had that really affected Mishima this much? Moving closer, he read the plaque:

_“The amazing leader of the Phantom Thieves, Akira Kurusu, was generous enough to buy these for Yuuki Mishima, our wonderful admin! He’s not just a hero in the Metaverse, but in his day to day life as well! He even forgave our admin after he ~~screwed everything up-”~~_

Akira frowned as he read it- It was nice that Mishima appreciated the gesture, but… He seemed to really put him on a pedestal. He wasn’t a hero just for buying him dessert… His thoughts were soon interrupted by the voices of his teammates, looking over to see what they were talking about.

“-And I thought the first floor was bad in terms of fanboy obsession…” Futaba sighed, peering into another glass case, this one displaying a manilla folder with several papers stuffed inside. “Jeez, I totally forgot Kamoshida made him leak Joker’s record. Seems like he still feels bad about it…” 

“I mean, it figures he’d still feel like shit about it, right? It’s not like anyone’s stopped spreading rumors about Joker since it got leaked. I mean, I know I’d feel shitty if I like, did that to one of my only friends.” Ryuji replied, crossing his arms. “Man, this place just keeps getting weirder… Y’know, it says it’s all about the Phantom Thieves, but almost all of it’s just about Joker or himself- Hey, wait, is that what I think it is?!” His annoyed grumbling turned into laughter as he spotted a certain flyer on display. “Operation Maidwatch! Duuuude! Hey Joker, you remember this?!”

“Skull, this isn’t the time for that…” Ann groaned, shaking her head in disapproval, before she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, tensing up as she turned her head. “Hey… Are those…?” Akira saw what she was talking about: Four shadows, seeming to have been drawn to them by the noise, heading right for them. They looked like security guards of sorts, but it was clear that they weren’t just going to escort them out.

“Oh, shit.” Ryuji winced as Ann and Makoto glared at him. “Remind me to be sneakier next time, ahaha…” 

\---------------------------

The security guards weren’t quite as tough as the puppet Yusuke from the other day, but taking four of them on at once was proving to be fairly difficult- That is, until their fight was interrupted by a familiar voice from the staircase on the other side of the room, causing both the Phantom Thieves and the shadows to stop in their tracks.

“What’s all this ruckus about? Didn’t I tell you not to fight in here? There are some fragile displays in here, you know.” Shadow Mishima scolded them, narrowing his golden eyes. Right at his side with the cognitive Akira, running his pale hands through Mishima’s dark blue hair. 

“Calm down, dear. They’re probably just fans.” He purred, causing Mishima to take a deep breath, his expression softening.

“I know, I know… It’s just that those items are very important to me, if anything happened to them…” The shadow sighed, before straightening his tie and waving his hand in a dismissive motion. “Guards. Return to your posts. I’ll deal with these… _Fans_ myself.” 

Akira felt his chest tighten as the shadow and cognitive version of himself approached them, deaf to the murmurs of his teammates. Mishima didn’t seem at all intimidated by them, looking them over with a critical eye as the security guards shuffled away. “I have to say, those are some impressive costumes. You look almost exactly like my dear Phantom Thieves. Still, you can’t fool me or my guards.” 

“Um, dude, we _are_ the Phantom Thieves.” Ryuji insisted, however his comment was completely ignored by the shadow, as if he’d never spoken at all. 

“Did you try to sneak in here because you wanted to see the Phantom Thieves and their amazing manager that badly? Well, I guess I can’t say I’m surprised- but that’s still no excuse for trespassing.” Mishima tapped his foot impatiently, crossing his arms over his chest. “Now that you’ve had the honor of meeting me and my dear Akira, why don’t you leave?”

 _“Your dear Akira?”_ Futaba repeated incredulously, clearly trying to suppress a laugh, but again, Mishima paid her no mind, his eyes fixated only on their leader. Akira swallowed the lump in his throat, trying to keep his face as expressionless as possible. 

“... Right. We’ll leave now.” Akira finally spoke after a tense pause, turning his back to the shadow and beginning to walk towards the staircase they’d come from. He could hear the rest of the team begin to protest, but they soon followed behind, until they were back in the real world, in the attic of LeBlanc.

“Dude, what is with you? I was totally ready to kick his ass!” Ryuji complained, slouching down on one of the chairs. “It’s weird that he didn’t like, immediately attack us, but still!”

“I don’t think we were ready to face both of them yet.” Akira replied calmly, despite the thudding in his chest. “Given his perception of me, I doubt my cognitive self would be easy to beat, not to mention the other cognitive versions of you all might appear. Plus, we can’t steal his heart until we find his treasure, so what point would there be in fighting him now?”

“Ugh, right, right…” He was still clearly disappointed that they didn’t get to fight, but he accepted his explanation for now. “Still though, you were actin’ kinda weird in there.”

“Be a little more sensitive, Ryuji! He’s Mishima’s closest friend, of course he’s going to feel weird about his palace.” Ann quickly defended him- She could easily put herself in Akira’s shoes, just thinking about how she might feel if she discovered that Shiho had a palace.

“It’s fine.” Akira muttered, a long, awkward pause following his words. It seemed nobody knew quite what to say about the whole situation, and to be fair, it was one they’d never faced before. Sure, Futaba was their friend now, but when they’d discovered her palace she was a stranger. 

“Um… Well, it’s getting rather late now, isn’t it? I think I should be heading home now.” Haru chirped, followed by quiet agreement from the others, before they left Akira and Morgana to their own devices. With a tired sigh, Akira sat down at his desk, deciding to make some more lockpicks to take his mind off of things. Morgana simply curled up on the bed without a word, quickly falling asleep.

\---------------------------

“I’m home.” Yuuki murmured as he closed the door behind him, slipping off his shoes. No response, as usual. After leaving LeBlanc, rather than going straight home, he’d decided to just walk around the city by himself to clear his mind. He’d gotten home rather late, but god knows his parents didn’t care what he was doing or when he got home, so long as he kept his grades up. He walked past his father on his way to his room, who didn’t so much as glance up from his paper.

Even though it had always been like this, he still felt a pang in his chest at the lack of acknowledgement. Even when he’d come home with new bruises every day, they never seemed to care. He knew they saw the black and blue on his arms and face- Hell, how could you not see that? But they’d never asked if he was okay. They never asked how he got them, or did anything about it. _Was he just not worth caring about?_

 _‘Whatever,’_ He thought to himself as he closed his bedroom door behind him and sat down at his desk chair, turning his laptop on once again. So what if his parents didn’t give a shit about him? The Phansite patrons cared, or at least, they’d care once he got famous. Everyone would care once he got famous- Maybe even his parents would acknowledge him then. Of course, by then he would be too much of a celebrity to pay any mind to them. _He wondered, how would they like a taste of their own medicine?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been pretty anxious about this chapter, since I wasn't entirely sure about how the palace description/new floor would be received, buuuut I hope you enjoyed it anyways!! <3


	5. Chapter 5

_**He** was angry again. He’d messed up, and now **he** was angry. He couldn’t stop shaking, begging for forgiveness, but his words- his pain- meant nothing to **him.** Another blow, a dull pain in his head as he hit the floor. It was so cold. He cried, still begging, his tears and blood making a small mess on the floor. ‘Somebody, please, help me,’ he would scream over and over again in his head, despite his knowing it was futile. ‘Somebody help me, help me, help me- Akira, why won’t you help me?’_

Yuuki groaned as his alarm went off, reaching over and turning it off before pulling his covers over his head. He was immensely tired from another late night, but at least it was the weekend, and he could finally catch up on sleep… Despite this thought running through his head, he turns on his phone instead of shutting his eyes again- He may be used to the nightmares, but it was still hard to fall asleep again after that. _No new messages._ Of course. It was rare that anybody texted him first. Nothing he wasn’t used to… It didn’t matter, he still had the Phansite. People actually listened to him on there, after all. He supposed he could clean up some comments before he went back to sleep… 

The sound of a notification actually startled him, jumping a bit at the sound- Oh, a text from Kurusu. He felt his heart flutter a bit in his chest, although it quickly twisted into dread as he reminded himself of what happened last time. That was a disaster… Kurusu was just so cool, always calm and collected, and Yuuki, well… He was an awkward mess, always trying so hard not to embarrass himself but somehow managing to do so every time. He anxiously opened the message, sighing with relief when he realized it wasn’t anything bad.

**Akira:** are you free today?  
**You:** Ah, no, I’m pretty busy, sorry… 

Nope, he was not going to hang out with him again, not right after what happened last time. He’d probably just find some way to mess it up if he went, anyways. He felt bad for turning him down, but… It was for the best. He had work on the Phansite to do, and he was sure Kurusu’s day would be much better without him. He just hoped he hadn’t hurt his feelings or anything like that- Well, he was probably just asking out of pity, so it didn’t matter did it? Until he got famous, _he_ didn’t matter. 

Akira sighed at Mishima’s response, somewhat surprised that he had rejected his invitation- or rather, his implied invitation- but he figured he shouldn’t try to push it. Maybe he shouldn’t be assuming, given that he honestly know much about Mishima’s personal life, but if he had to guess he would say he was probably going to stay cooped up and work on the Phansite all day. For a moment he just stared at the text, before he opened the MetaNav app without thinking about it.

“Akira, what are you doing?” Morgana asked, clearly confused and a bit concerned. “If you’re going to Mementos or the Palace, you should go with the other Phantom Thieves.”

“I know. But I have a plan.” Akira responded with his usual cool confidence, although the part about having a plan was a total lie. He didn’t know why, but he felt like he needed to see him, whether it was in the real world or in the Metaverse. It was clear from the cognitive versions of himself and his friends that Mishima didn’t think of the others as friends, so maybe if he went in alone there was a chance he could try to reason with him. He wasn’t sure what would happen, but if there was a way for him to change without actually stealing his heart, then he would do whatever it took. 

“What is it then? You can’t seriously be planning to go in there completely alone. It’s dangerous and you know it.” Morgana pressed on, blue eyes narrowing at him and his tail swishing. “I know he’s a friend of yours, but you’re being irrational.”

“Just trust me. I know what I’m doing.” Akira insisted, and before Morgana could protest, he’d typed the keywords and pressed enter, vanishing from the attic of LeBlanc. He appeared before the all too familiar screen-covered building, staring down at the red carpet as he took a deep breath, before he began walking towards the palace in silence, ignoring the murmurs of the paparazzi as he passed. Without his team here, he’d have to be extra careful as to not alert any dangerous shadows. 

He pushed the glass door open and slipped inside, heading straight for the stairs and climbing to the second floor. He felt like a real thief sneaking into a museum as he quietly made his way past the rows of glass cases, peering into a few more as he passed. A first aid kit, a volleyball uniform, a pile of crumpled papers… He wanted to know what importance they held to Mishima, but he didn’t have time to read the plaques- He needed to find his shadow. He ducked down and hid behind one of the displays as he neared the stairs to the next floor- If he wanted to go up, he’d have to distract the guards first. 

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled an item an enemy had dropped- a Life Stone- and threw it across the room, hitting the wall with a loud thud. The guards rushed over to the noise, and once they were past him Akira quickly ran to the stairs, keeping as quiet as possible. He reached the top of the stairs, his sigh of relief getting caught in his throat as he felt something roughly grab his arm.

“Not so fast.” Akira recognized the voice instantly- It was Ann’s. He should’ve known it wasn’t going to be this easy to advance to the next floor… He jerked his arm away and turned around to see another puppet, similar to the one of Yusuke, glassy eyes staring at him. He got ready to summon his Persona as he saw her reach for her whip, beginning to regret coming in alone, until she suddenly froze in place, still as a statue.

“Ah, it’s you again. I see you’ve come without your friends this time.” Mishima’s voice came from behind, and he whirled around to face him. “You’re lucky I stopped her, I’m sure you know how strong the Phantom Thieves are- She would’ve torn you apart.” There was a strange look in his eyes, like he enjoyed being able to choose to have mercy or not.

“... Thank you.” Akira responded after a moment, trying to pull himself together. “I came back because I wanted to talk to you. I’m a big fan.” Honestly, he was unsure if this would work, but he had to try. If it would spare Mishima the betrayal he would feel upon receiving a Calling Card, then… 

“I can tell~ Only a true fan would work so hard on a costume like that. You’ve got it down to the smallest details.” The shadow smirked as he stepped closer to him, running a hand over the fabric of his coat, only seeming to grow more confident as Akira tensed up. “But you know, I’m a very busy man. I have so many interviews scheduled just for today, so I’m afraid you’ll have to try again some other time. I’ll have my darling Akira escort you out.”

“Please, just this once. I’ve always wanted to talk to the amazing Yuuki Mishima.” The Phantom Thief insisted, not budging. “If you won’t talk to me now, I’ll just come back again until you do.” He could tell Mishima was just basking in the attention he was getting, eating up every praise he was given.

“Hm… Well, maybe I can make an exception for such a… _Dedicated_ fan.” Mishima hummed, golden eyes scanning him up and down. “You’d better make this worth my while, though. I won’t forgive you if you waste my time.”

“I won’t.” He assured him, his false confidence seeming to be enough to fool the shadow, who smiled, before clapping his hands together.

“Ann, return to your post. Akira, dear, escort our fan upstairs.” He instructed, his voice not quite demanding, but it was clear that they had no choice in the matter. The cognitive Akira grabbed his arm, leading him towards the next set of stairs- He would just have to see what was on this floor later. “I’ll be up in a moment~”

Akira was forcefully pulled up the winding staircase to the next floor, before they came to a wooden door wish a gold star on it, like you’d see on the dressing rooms of movie stars, Mishima’s name imprinted in bold letters. As the door was opened, he was greeted to the sight of what seemed to be a dimly lit lavish penthouse apartment, expensive portraits of Mishima and the Phantom Thieves hung on the walls, a wide screen TV placed on one wall, in front of which was two expensive red sofas, placed across from each other. He was lead over to one, and the cognitive Akira sat across from him, not saying a word but keeping a careful eye on him. Glancing around, he could see there was a sliding glass door that led to a balcony, as well as stairs to the roof- So this was the last floor… 

Before he could observe much else, he heard the sound of the door closing, and the shadow was once again in his sights, seating himself next to the false Akira. He practically draped himself over the cognition, before he turned to Akira, that strange smile on his face. “Well, what did you want to talk to me about? Ask away, this may be your only chance to.”

What _did_ he want to talk to him about? He hadn’t thought this far ahead in all honesty, and with all the questions on his mind it was had to pick which to ask first. “What were you like before you were famous?” He inquired after a moment of thought, watching the look on Mishima’s face change into confusion.

“I’m not sure why you’d want to know something like that, but if you really must know…” The shadow sighed, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I know it must be hard to believe now, but I was… Insignificant, to put it lightly. I was overlooked, pushed around- Even the ones I worshipped hardly noticed I was there.” Akira saw a flicker of sadness and resentment in his eyes, before he once again brightened up. “But as I made the Phantom Thieves more famous, people started recognizing me, too! I was finally worth something… I managed to prove everyone who doubted me wrong.”

“Are you saying you used the Phantom Thieves?” Akira asked, and Mishima couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh, you say that like it’s such a bad thing!” He chuckled, raising an eyebrow at him. “Yes, I used them to become more famous. What’s so terrible about that? That doesn’t mean I care about them any less, and it’s not like I was hurting anyone- I just wanted to be recognized, that’s all. Not to mention the Phantom Thieves became more famous along with me, so it’s a win-win situation, is it not?”

“... I see.” So that’s how he really felt… There wasn’t much he could say to that, not without likely getting himself thrown out. He’d have to figure out what to do with that information later. “So what do you really think of the Phantom Thieves, then?” 

“I think they’re amazing, of course. Some more so than others- But it only makes sense for me to have a bias, seeing as only a few of them are the ones responsible for saving me in the first place, and even fewer actually spoke to me before I was famous.” Mishima pulled his silent companion closer to him as he spoke, running a hand through his raven hair. “My dear Akira is the only one who was ever close to me, in fact.”

“Right. I can see you two are very close.” Akira bit the inside of his cheek, unsure of how to feel about how Mishima talked about his cognitive self. Was that how he viewed their relationship, or was that just what he wanted their relationship to be? Maybe he was just overthinking things. “What did the Phantom Thieves save you from? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.” Akira already knew, but he wanted to know if there was anything about the situation that he didn’t know.

The shadows expression instantly fell, sitting up straight and his gaze becoming intense. **“Him.** _Kamoshida._ He was an absolutely vile man, but… I couldn’t stand up to him, no matter how much he hurt me. No matter how much he hurt others, for that matter. If I weren’t such a coward, maybe he would’ve gone to jail sooner, and Shiho wouldn’t have… But the Phantom Thieves had to step in for me, and it’s a good thing they did, otherwise I might’ve done the same as her.” He paused for a moment, clenching his fist and breathing deeply. “... Anyways, I have another interview soon. You should leave now.”

“Alright. Thank you for having me, Mishima.” Akira agreed, leaving the room and making his way out of the building. The fact that Mishima seemed to somewhat blame himself for Shiho’s suicide attempt was… Awful, to say the least, not to mention him offhandedly saying he’d considered suicide himself. It was no wonder he freaked out so bad the other day… He wasn’t sure what to do with that information, but at least now he had a better understanding of what was going on in Mishima’s head.

“You’re back!” Morgana exclaimed as he once again appeared in the attic, jumping off the bed and running over to him. “I was just about to head in after you- What happened in there?”

“I talked to his shadow.” Akira replied calmly. “I wanted to get a better understanding of him, so maybe I could help him more in the real world.”

“Wait- You managed to talk to him without him attacking you?” The cat stared at him in disbelief for a moment, before shaking his head. “Jeez, he really does have a soft spot for you… I’m guessing that’s why you wanted to go alone- Still, you could’ve at least told me that before you left! Not that I was worried or anything…”

“Sorry.” He apologized bluntly. “I was in a rush.” 

“Yeah yeah, whatever… By the way, Ryuji stopped by earlier, so you should probably give him a call. He wanted to hang out with you today.”

“I will in a minute.” Akira glanced at his phone, seeing the missed texts from his friend, before going downstairs. He hadn’t bothered to grab breakfast before he went into the palace this morning, so he was starving now. Still, what he’d learned about Mishima weighed heavy on his mind- He’d definitely have to try and talk to him at school tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly Akira's lucky, that could've turned out... way worse than it did--  
> Anyways, this chapters a bit longer than usual, buuut I hope you enjoyed it!!


	6. Chapter 6

“Mind if I join you?” Akira asked gently as he approached Mishima’s desk, looking down at him with a slight smile. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him after what happened in the palace yesterday, and now that it was lunchtime he had the perfect opportunity to finally talk to him. As usual, Mishima had been glued to his phone, seeming to completely forget that he was supposed to eat at lunch. The Phansite admin jumped a little bit in surprise at the question, having not noticed Akira heading over to him, before his eyes widened slightly, cheeks flushed a light pink.

“U-uh, yeah, sure, if you really want to, ehehe…” He sputtered out with an awkward chuckle, setting his phone down on his desk. Akira pulled up a chair, setting his own lunch down, before taking out another lunch and handing it to Mishima.

“Here. I noticed you forget your lunch a lot.” He said, cracking a smile at the way his face lit up. He must have forgotten today, too… It was well worth it to make a second lunch, even if he had to get up a little bit earlier this morning.

“Really? Y-you didn’t have to! Thanks, Kurusu!” Mishima beamed, the blush on his cheeks only growing redder. “I’ll make it up to you somehow-”

“You don’t have to.” Akira cut him off, shaking his head. “You’re a hard worker- it’s the least that I can do.”

“Ahaha, it’s nothing, really… I just wish I could do more, like actually be there with you guys, but… I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to. You don’t me holding you back, anyways.” Mishima gave him a sad smile, before biting into his lunch, facing lighting up once again as he did. “Wow, did you make this yourself? It’s delicious!”

“Yeah, Sojiro’s been teaching me a thing or two about cooking. I’m glad you like it.” He chuckled quietly, just taking in how happy he looked right now. “And it’s not ‘nothing’, Mishima. You’ve worked hard on the Phansite, and you’ve helped us and other people a lot. Really, me making you something to eat is nothing compared to that.”

“Ah, thanks… I’m glad I’ve been useful to you.” Mishima grinned sheepishly, his cheeks now bright red as he averted his eyes. “Ehehe, you’re too nice to me…”

If this was considered ‘too nice’, he had to wonder how low Mishima’s expectations were in terms of friendship and kindness. Maybe it was because making someone a lunch was considered a little romantic… That, and the world had never been kind to Mishima, so it seemed. “You’re more than just useful- You’re part of the team.” 

 

Yuuki’s chest tightened at that- Those words… That was exactly what he’d wanted to hear for so long. He wanted to hear it so badly, and yet… It was so hard to believe when he actually said it. “O-oh, uh, thanks…” His face was burning, heart racing in his chest. Why did he feel like this when he was around him...? He knew the feeling couldn’t be mutual, there was no way someone like Akira Kurusu would ever feel this way about someone like him. No, Kurusu deserved someone amazing, and right now, Mishima was no more than a fanboy. Once he was famous, maybe, but… Not now. In fact, now that he thought about it, Kurusu was probably more interested in one of the other Phantom Thieves- Ann, Makoto, Haru, or maybe even Ryuji or Yusuke- They were all amazing, so of course he would like them… 

His eyes drifted back over to Akira as they both ate their lunches- He remembered how intimidated he was by him when they’d first met. After all, he knew about his criminal record, given that he was the one who’d leaked it, not to mention how mysterious he seemed back then… Even now, he was somewhat of an enigma, but honestly, that just added to his appeal. His raven hair, while somewhat messy, somehow always managed to look perfect, and those dark glasses of his framed his stone grey eyes so well… He bit his lip, before he realized he was staring, tearing his eyes away from the Phantom Thief. He really shouldn’t be thinking about him like that, knowing he could never have him… 

The warm, fluttery feeling in Mishima’s chest seemed to turn to ice as he overheard their classmates muttering about them once again- Muttering about Kurusu. A frown creased his face as guilt consumed him once more. If he hadn’t leaked his record, then he wouldn’t be treated so badly- He wouldn’t get those burning glares in the hallway, or have to deal with hearing these petty rumors all the time- He would just be another normal student. In fact, if it weren’t for that criminal record, he would probably be quite the popular guy. _Why did he have to be so weak? He should’ve tried harder to resist, he should’ve fought back against Kamoshida, but he was a coward, and Kurusu had to pay the price for it…_

“Mishima, are you alright? You’ve gone pale.” The sound of Kurusu’s voice broke him out of his thoughts, and he quickly nodded his head, a little flustered at being caught off guard.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine! I just got lost in thought, haha…” He laughed nervously, trying his best to tune out the snickers of his classmates. Lunch was over before he knew it, and he watched as Akira returned to his own desk, once again pulling out his phone to work on the Phansite. _He had to make it up to him..._

\---------------------------

“You went in there _alone?!_ What the hell, man?!” Ryuji exclaimed, clearly unhappy with the news. “See what I mean? You’ve been acting super weird ever since this palace appeared! What’s your deal, man? You seriously could’ve gotten hurt!” 

“I hate to say it, but I’m with Ryuji on this one…” Ann agreed half heartedly, frowning at their leader, more concerned than angry, leaning against the wall of LeBlanc. 

“I know it was risky, but I thought if it was just me, he would be willing to talk to me.” Akira explained in his usual level-headed manner. “And it worked. I have a better idea of how I can help him in the real world.” 

“And by ‘helping him in the real world’ you mean flirting with him? C’mon dude, I saw you two at lunch!” Ryuji shot back, earning him a slug on the shoulder from Ann.

“As if _you’re_ doing anything extra to help him!”

“We can’t just stand around here arguing about Akira’s life decisions all day.” Makoto stated firmly, glaring at the two blondes, before turning to Akira. “Just tell us next time, okay? And don’t make a habit out of it.”

“I won’t. I don’t think I’ll need to go in alone again.” Akira replied, before taking out his phone. “Well, are we ready to go in?” He asked, and the rest of the team nodded. He entered the keywords in once again, and he was once again transported into the crowd of fans he’d grown accustomed to. Still, something was… Different this time. Looking up at the sign next to the building, he noticed that something had been added underneath the other words- “2.0”.

 _“Isn’t he amazing?” “He built all the new additions himself!” “He’s always working so hard!” “I heard he stayed up all night working on it!”_ The shadows in the crowd excitedly whispered to one another, cameras flashing as they snapped pictures of the new sign.

“What the hell?” Ryuji furrowed his brows in confusion, squinting at the sign. “Did it change or somethin’?” 

“Well, it is supposed to represent the Phansite. If he’s constantly working on it and modifying it in the real world, it would only make sense for the palace to change, too.” Futaba chimed in, pointing to the new addition on the sign. “It must be a pretty major update if he jumped all the way to 2.0 and not like, 1.1 or something.” 

“I see… Well, hopefully we can still find our way around.” Ann sighed, before they headed inside, pushing past the familiar glass doors.

The setup on the first floor had changed significantly: There were still TVs covering the walls, but in the middle of the room was a receptionist, with two cardboard cutouts of the Phantom Thieves next to their desk. To their right there was a fairly large gift shop, stocked to the brim with merchandise, ranging from posters to plushies to costume replicas. To the left, there were what appeared to be previews of the museum portion upstairs, surrounded by shadows staring at them with awe. Behind the receptionist, there were two exits: an elevator with a guard on either side, and the stairs to the next floor.

“Jeez, I can’t believe what he’s done with the place- This floor used to be so empty. I have to say, I’m kind of impressed.” Ann commented as she looked around the renovated floor, blue eyes wide with surprise.

Akira nodded in agreement, eyes settling on the elevator. “If it’s guarded like that, it must lead somewhere important.” He pointed out, before motioning for them to follow him, stealthily moving along the wall as they made their way past the display previews and the seemingly incompetent receptionist, the other shadows too preoccupied with the displays and merchandise to really notice them. 

At his signal, they ambushed the guards, and though they were tough, it wasn’t exactly a struggle to beat them, given the Phantom Thieves were a fairly large group at this point. Once they were defeated, Akira went to look at the elevator button, only to see there was but one option: Down. Upon pushing the button, the elevator doors opened up, and the Phantom Thieves (albeit somewhat hesitantly) stepped inside.

As the elevator doors opened, the thieves were greeted to a much different sight than the one upstairs. The walls were dirty and gray, the cheap lights above flickering every so often. Along the walls of the hallway were darkened jail cells, 3 on each side. Peering inside the first one to the left, Akira could see the crumpled form of Madarame on the floor. Other than the inhabitants, the cells were completely barren, not even a bed. These cells must hold all the corrupt people the Phantom Thieves had changed the hearts of… It was a bit disturbing, to say the least.

“Hey, the hell are you doing down here?” A familiar voice asked from down the hallway, clearly irritated- The only way to tell it apart from Ryuji’s voice was the slight distortion as it spoke. Turning away from the cell, he saw an imitation of Ryuji, the only difference in terms of appearance was the prison guard outfit. “Visitors ain’t allowed, so scram, before I make ya.” 

The party was silent with shock for a moment, before the real Ryuji finally spoke up. “Like hell we’re just gonna ‘scram’! What the eff is going on with this place?” 

“Huh? What the hell do you THINK it is?” The cognitive Ryuji raised an eyebrow at him, before a prideful smile spread across his face. “It’s JAIL, duh! And our awesome manager decided to put me in charge! Nobody better to punish criminals than a delinquent, right? Plus, I’m probably the toughest other than like, Akira, so I’m the best man for the job. Our manager always makes the best choices!”

“What the-?! Who are you callin’ a delinquent?!” Ryuji looked like he was ready to explode with anger, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. “We’re takin’ you down!”

The cognitive Ryuji smirked at this, taking out a baton as four more shadows dressed as prison guards manifested behind him. **“I’d like to see you try.”**  
\---------------------------

“Ugh, I’m drained…” Ann groaned, resting her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. The cognitive Ryuji’s moves had been a bit hard to predict, seeing as there didn’t seem to be any strategy to them, and when he attacked, he hit hard- But thankfully they had been able to defeat him without any knock-outs. 

As the rest of the Phantom Thieves discussed whether or not they should call it quits for the day, Akira paced up the hall, peering into the different cells. In the cell next to Madarame’s was the rotting body of Okumura, and the third on the right was empty- Likely what they would have been thrown in had they been defeated. In the cell across from that, Akira recognized the boys locked inside as Mishima’s bullies from the real world, although it was hard to see their faces in the dark. Next was Kaneshiro’s cell, and finally… 

Akira’s stomach dropped at the sight of him, even though he knew it was coming. Kamoshida was the most beaten of all the prisoners, his face barely recognizable anymore. There was no sign of him being alive, not even the slightest movement. This… Must be what Mishima wanted to happen to Kamoshida. Not that he could blame him after what he did, but it was brutal, to say the least. 

“Hey, Joker, we’ve decided to keep going. Is that alright with you?” His thoughts were interrupted by Morgana, who was holding a glittering golden key that the cognitive Ryuji had dropped. “I think this key has something to do with the treasure, so we might find it soon if we just press on!”

“Yeah, I’m fine with that. Let’s go.” Akira agreed, before stepping back into the elevator. _This was going to be a long day._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, and sorry if not enough happened in this chapter! There was originally going to be more, but this ended up dragging on too long, so I had to split it up ;;w;; Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it!


	7. Chapter 7

“Joker? Heyyy, Earth to Joker? Are you AFK?” Futaba waved a hand in front of his face, effectively snapping him out of his thoughts. The Phantom Thieves had managed to find a safe room on the second floor, accessed via a door just to the left of where the stairs ended, so they decided to stay there and regroup for a bit before continuing. While the rest of the group talked however, Akira had found himself lost in thought. _What was with that basement? Was that how he viewed the Phantom Thieves ‘justice’, or was that what he thought those people deserved?_ He had so many questions, but he’d have to ponder those later- Right now, he needed to focus on trying to find the treasure.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about something. If you’re all rested up, I think we should get going.” Akira finally spoke as he stood up, clearing his throat. He was honestly a little embarrassed about zoning out, especially since it only proved Ryuji right when he said he was acting strange. 

“Yes, the sooner we finish this the better.” Yusuke nodded, heading towards the door of the safe room. “To be honest, I am a little interested to see if he’s changed the museum at all.” 

“Yeah, hopefully it didn’t get any creepier than it already was.” Futaba muttered as the Phantom Thieves exited the room, walking down the hallway and entering the museum portion of the building. It was more crowded than last time, shadows walking around and gazing at the displays. There were a few more rows of displays than last time, along with TVs on the walls, showing what looked like an interview with Mishima’s shadow and, of course, the cognitive Akira he always kept by his side. There was also the entrance to another section to the left, however from where they were standing now, along with the hallway leading to the next set of stairs next to that. Not as big of a change as the first floor had, but it was definitely an improvement. 

Before they could start examining the displays to see if there was anything important hidden there, however, there was a sudden roar of applause coming from the room connected to the museum. Without a word, Akira motioned for the rest of the Phantom Thieves to follow him, sneaking past the various shadows wandering around until they made it to the entrance of the room, and in the moment he glanced behind him, Akira ran right into something. He stumbled backwards, regaining his balance before looking up to see what he’d run into, only to see-

“Oh, you again? I have to say, I was hoping you’d be alone.” Mishima smirked, straightening out his suit before continuing. “You know, I didn’t catch your name last time we spoke- _Who are you?”_

Akira swallowed the lump in his throat, trying his best to keep his composure in front of his teammates. “I’m Joker.” He replied coolly, earning himself a chuckle from the shadow.

“What an odd name.” His golden eyes held an incredulous look, however he kept that confident smile on his lips. “Well, I hope to see you around, Joker.” He winked at him, before walking away, the cognitive Akira following close behind.

_“Dude._ Are you for real?” Ryuji spoke as soon as the shadow had disappeared up the stairs to the third floor, slugging him on the shoulder. “What did you do last time you were here, huh? C’mon, I saw that wink!”

“Yeah, not to mention how close together you guys were standing. Are you on Nishima’s romance route?” Futaba teased, not seeming to take it very seriously.

“Come on, we shouldn’t be messing around right now. Let’s head in, there might be something important inside.” Makoto huffed, leading the rest of the Phantom Thieves into the room Mishima has just left.

Immediately, it was familiar- There was a stage opposite from where they had entered, and Akira recognized it as the set of many of those interviews he’d seen on the TVs. In front of that were rows and rows of seats, filled with shadows murmuring amongst themselves. _“Oh my gosh, that was amazing!” “I can’t believe I got to see him in person!” “I’ll wait here all night if it means I’ll get to see him again!”_ They were obsessive, never seeming to stop talking about him. 

“Hey, NPCs, we’re at maximum capacity in here, so I’m gonna have to ask you to despawn.” A girls voice came from one of the aisles, her tone harsh and condescending. She was wearing a black dress shirt and dress pants, her orange hair tied in a messy ponytail. Her dress shirt had a strange neon green pattern on it, like the pattern you’d see on a microchip. She covered the mic on her headset as she spoke, glaring at them, and bold letters, her name tag read: **FUTABA SAKURA.**

“Man, I know I make a lot of video game references, but jeez…” The real Futaba groaned, rolling her eyes behind her mask. “Do you like, work here or something?”

“No shit, sherlock. How’d you come up with that brilliant assumption, roll a nat 20 on your perception check?” The cognitive Futaba shot back, crossing her arms over her chest. “Yeah, I manage all the tech for Nishima’s shows. Y’know, lights and stuff. Anyways, like I said, hurry up and get out of here. You just missed the show anyways.”

“Ugh, is that _really_ what he thinks I sound like?” Futaba huffed, glaring at Ryuji as he tried to stifle a laugh.

“I dunno, it seems pretty accurate to me.” The blonde snickered, earning him an elbow to the side from Futaba. However, before they could argue any more, they were suddenly back out in the museum, everyone feeling a bit disoriented at the sudden change with seemingly no warning. “What the hell…?” 

“Hey, I told you guys to move, and you didn’t. It’s not my fault I had to glitch ya back out there.” The cognitive Futaba said with a smug look, the entrance to that area Now blocked off by a strange holographic barrier. She then turned around and walked out of sight, leaving some of the Phantom Thieves rather frustrated.

“Aw, c’mon! We hardly got to see anything in there!” Ryuji huffed, crossing his arms. 

“I know, but I don’t sense that there’s anything important in there, much less the treasure. I think we should just keep moving for now.” Morgana responded, tail flicking impatiently. “Unless you sense something, Joker?”

“No, let’s just go to the next floor.” He agreed, before leading the group up to the stairs, which were guarded by a few minor shadows, however they were easily defeated. It was almost like Mishima was letting his guard down a bit… 

The third floor hadn’t really changed, from the small bit of it Akira saw last time he was here. It was a small room leading to a staircase, the one that lead to Mishima’s personal lounge, and to the left there was a door- He could assume the bulk of this floor was behind it. It was also a lot dimmer than the first two floors, giving it an almost eerie aura. 

“I think we’re close to the treasure now- The distortion feels a lot stronger on this floor.” Morgana commented as Akira approached the door, handing him the key when he found it was locked. The golden key fit perfectly into the keyhole, a loud clang sounding as the heavy metal door slowly swung open. It was pitch black inside, not a single thing visible in the darkness. Despite this, Akira didn’t hesitate to enter, the others following behind him. There was another loud clang as soon as they had all entered, the door slamming shut behind them. 

“What the hell? How’re we supposed to find the treasure in here-” Ryuji complained, although he was cut off when the room was suddenly bathed in bright light, and the Phantom Thieves found themselves in the school gym, the only difference being there were no doors or windows, except for one at the far end, identical to the metal door they’d entered through. There were several statues lined up against one wall- One of Kamoshida, looking as menacing as ever, one of Shiho, who was terribly bruised, an expressionless one of Makoto, and of course, one of Mishima, covered from head to toe in bandages and bruises, a fearful look on his face. 

“Okayyy, just when I thought we’d already reached maximum creep levels…” Futaba grimaced under her mask. “Anyways though, this is a pretty classic puzzle in video games, mostly RPG horror games. Basically, we’ve gotta move those statues around to recreate some sort of scene.” She explained, gesturing to the line of statues.

The statues were surprisingly easy to move, pushing Kamoshida, Mishima, and Shiho’s statues to the middle of the gym. It didn’t take much thought to figure out what they were supposed to do with them, setting it up so Kamoshida was towering over a cowering Mishima, and Shiho was lying on the floor. The only problem was trying to figure out what to do with the one statue left: Makoto’s.

“If Queen was never there to actually witness something like this in person, then it’s safe to say this isn’t supposed to be a real, isolated event.” Ann thought out loud, an ache in her chest as she stared down at the Shiho statue. She was thankful that this was over now… 

“Then perhaps it means to represent this era of his life as a whole. Queen may not have been there physically when these… Assaults were happening, but clearly Mishima sees her as being somewhat involved in this.” Yusuke added, hand placed on his chin as he thought.

“... It must be because he saw me as just ignoring the situation, like everyone else thought I was…” Makoto muttered, eyes downcast. She felt awful about it, but there was nothing she could’ve done at the time, as much as she had wanted to help. Lips pursed, she moved her own statue to the side of the gym opposite from the rest of the statues, turning it to face away from the rather disturbing scene they had set up. There was a loud click, the sound of the metal door being unlocked, and she sighed in relief. Thank goodness she was right about that… 

“Good work, now let’s go.” Akira clearly wanted to leave as soon as he could- He knew it wasn’t real, but just looking at the scene made him sick and filled with anger. He couldn’t imagine how either of them could’ve felt, having to live in fear of their own coach… Nobody should have to go through that much pain. 

The rest of the Phantom Thieves followed him as he pushed open the door to the next room, which was again completely dark until the door behind them closed. This scene was rather different, as it was still fairly dark in most of the room, other than a spotlight. The room was unfamiliar to the Phantom Thieves, though it almost looked like a chapel. The statues lined against the wall this time were of Akira, Ryuji, who both had one of their arms extended, Mishima, who was kneeling, a few undistinguished students and teachers, and two other adults that bore some resemblance to Mishima- His parents, Akira assumed. 

“What are we supposed to do with this one? It’s even more symbolic than the last one…” Haru murmured, furrowing her brows in thought. “Fox, do you have any ideas? I feel like you’d know more about symbolism than any of us.”

“Actually, I do have something in mind.” Yusuke looked a bit proud of himself as he began to explain. “As you can see, this room resembles a place of worship. Now, who would Mishima look up to more than the two people he views as his saviors, Joker and Skull? That would explain why Mishima is kneeling. As for the rest of the statues, I can assume that much like Queen’s statue in the last room, they would be turned away as well, seeing as Mishima is the only one that knows it was Joker and Skull that saved him.” He paused for a moment to take a breath, before continuing. “Joker and Skull would probably be placed in the spotlight, with Mishima being just outside of it. The rest will probably be in the back.” 

The thieves worked together to move the statues accordingly, until they were down to the last two, the ones that seemed to be his parents. “What should we do with these? I mean, they’re his parents, so they can’t just be in the back with the others, right?” Ann asked, examining the statue of his mother.

“Perhaps… Maybe they’re in the pews?” Yusuke replied, although when the parents were moved to the pews, nothing happened.

“... I think they’re just like the rest.” Akira finally spoke up. “They didn’t do anything to help Mishima or stop Kamoshida, did they? Mishima probably viewed them as just turning a blind eye as well.” It hurt to think that Mishima thought his own parents didn’t care about him, but if that was the truth, then… With a nod, Ann moved them to the back, turning them away from the scene, and that familiar sound of a door unlocking sounded once more.

“Man, this is depressing…” Ryuji sighed as he walked past the spotlight and up to the next door, the rest of the group following into the next room. This room didn’t light up at all when the door closed, however they were still able to see due to a strange glowing orb in the center of the small room. There was just enough light for Akira to see the broken statue pieces that covered the floor, however it seemed like there wouldn’t be another puzzle for this room. “Oh, shit! That’s the treasure, right Mona?”

“It sure is! Good job, everyone!” Morgana mewed happily, staring up at the orb. “That was easier than I expected it to be, honestly, but it’ll probably be way harder to get it once it materializes… Well, should we head back now? We need to send the calling card.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Akira responded, although he could feel his throat tightening- This meant he wouldn’t have any more time to try and help Mishima in the real world… He knew his reaction to receiving the card would be bad, but he had to do this now. As soon as they were back at LeBlanc, the Phantom Thieves worked on the calling card together, though Akira barely participated. His stomach twisted in a knot at the very thought of having to give him this… He’d never felt this nervous about sending a calling card before. 

“Alright, now we just gotta figure out how to get this to him.” Ryuji thought for a moment, before speaking again. “Okay, so while we’re at school tomorrow, one of us will slip it into his bag near the end of the day while he’s either out of the room or distracted. Then he’ll see it when he gets home.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you had any brain cells left in there.” Futaba snickered, causing the blonde to glare at her. “Anyways, who’s gonna slip it in?”

“I’ll do it.” Ann offered, giving a sympathetic glance towards Akira. She knew it would be hard for him, so she wouldn’t want him to have to do it. “At lunch, one of you have him go eat lunch at your desk. While he’s away from his bag, I can put it in without him noticing.”

“Sounds like a plan! How about it, Akira? It wouldn’t be weird for you to invite him to eat lunch with you, seein’ as you’ve already done it before.” Ryuji looked at him expectantly, and he nodded.

“Yeah, sounds good.” He agreed reluctantly, going back to his room as soon as everyone left. _He had an awful feeling about this…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay honestly the calling card was supposed to be sent way back in chapter 6 but it keeps getting way longer than i expect it to so ig its gonna have to wait another chapter dghfjdhfjf-  
> Also, sorry for the wait! I had a hard time deciding what to do with the third floor tbh,, but I hope you enjoyed it anyways! I'm already working on the next chapter, so it should be out relatively soon!


	8. Chapter 8

“Hey, Mishima. Do you want to eat lunch at my desk today?” Akira asked as he approached his desk, hands in his pockets. He could see the boys cheeks redden at the question, and he smiled sheepishly back at him as he responded.

“Y-yeah, sure!” He seemed to have an extra spring in his step as he grabbed his lunchbox from his bag- thank goodness he’d remembered this time- and pulled a chair up to Akira’s desk, sitting down and trying to ignore the usual murmurs of their classmates. 

In all honesty, Akira couldn’t care less about any of the rumors going around about him, but he knew that hearing those must make Mishima feel terrible, seeing as he had been forced to leak his criminal record. Still, there were a few that got to him- _“Why would that guy want to hang around a thug like Kurusu? You’d think he’d gotten enough beatings already from Kamoshida…” “Psh, maybe he’s a masochist or something!”_ Hearing things like that made it hard not to lose his cool, the very notion that he’d purposely hurt his friend was enough to make him angry, however he kept his cool and tried to just tune it out. It wouldn’t exactly help his reputation if he blew up at them, after all.

“So, how have you been?” Akira asked, taking a bite of his lunch. He wasn’t exactly the best at starting small talk, but he wanted to show that he cared- That, and he had to keep him distracted so that Ann could slip the calling card into his bag unnoticed. It was a strange feeling, knowing this would likely be the last conversation they had before Mishima found out that he had a palace.

“Same as usual, ehehe…” Mishima chuckled lightly, scratching the back of his head. “I haven’t been getting much sleep, but it’s totally been worth it- I improved the Phansite’s design a lot, and I put up a few new polls, too! Plus, I implemented something to make it a lot easier for me to filter through spam…” He trailed off as he realized how much he’d been talking, looking away sheepishly. “Haha, sorry for rambling…” 

“Don’t worry about it, I’m happy to listen.” He replied, giving him a reassuring smile. It was nice to see him so excited about something, though he hoped one day Mishima could talk about his passions without feeling so insecure about it. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Ann get up from her seat, the envelope they’d sealed the calling card in hand. After all, they couldn’t just let the rest of their classmates see that and find out their secret identities. 

“Really? Thanks…” Mishima smiled back, continuing to talk about all the improvements he’d made to the Phansite as he ate his lunch. Akira kept an eye on Ann as she carefully opened his bag and dropped the card inside, nodding to him when she was done and heading back to her seat. So this was it… There was no going back once Mishima read the card. He felt the knot in his stomach return, anxiety causing his throat to tighten- Lunch was almost over now, so he didn’t have much time left. What should he say…? 

“Mishima.” He suddenly spoke up, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. “No matter what happens, I’ll always be here for you, alright?”

“U-um, thanks?” Mishima blinked in confusion at the declaration that seemed to come out of nowhere, before shaking his head. “I-I mean, that means a lot, um… I’ll always be backing you up as your loyal admin, okay?” He wasn’t quite sure how to respond, but he hoped that didn’t sound too weird… And with that, Mishima went back to his own desk, blissfully unaware of what was to come.

\---------------------------

Yuuki sighed as he sat alone on the train, finally heading home for the day. He often didn’t go straight home from school- Instead, he would find himself wandering around the red light district, or other parts of town. Even if he was by himself, it was better than going home. Plus, this way he could keep an eye out for anything sketchy that he should report to the Phantom Thieves. Maybe he should relish in his alone time now… He might not be able to go outside without being chased by paparazzi in a couple years, if everything went accordingly.

He watched the sky change from blue to orange as the train came to a stop, slinging his bag over his shoulder and beginning his walk home. It was a nice night out, the first stars starting to appear in the sky as he walked down his street. He couldn’t see the moon, though- If he recalled, tonight was a new moon. It would be especially dark out tonight, then… He stopped for a moment in front of his doorstep, hesitating to reach for the doorknob. 

Would they even notice if he wasn’t home? Would they care if he just… _Left?_ He’d considered it so many times, in all honesty, even if he knew the idea of running away was completely ridiculous. Especially before the Phantom Thieves took down Kamoshida; there were so many times he was tempted to just pack a bag and jump on the next train leaving town. How long would it take for his parents to call the police, if they would at all? 

He internally scolded himself as he turned the doorknob at last, slipping off his shoes as he stepped inside. Of course he couldn’t just run away now. His work was much too important, and that would just be throwing away his only chance at recognition. Idiot… He didn’t bother saying anything as he made his way to his bedroom, setting his bag down on his bed. He had homework tonight… As much as he didn’t want to waste his time on it, the sooner he got it done, the sooner he could get back to working on the Phansite. 

Reluctantly, he opened his bag to get his book out, when he noticed something that hadn’t been there before. What was this envelope here for? He certainly hadn’t written any letters as of late… Maybe it was some kind of prank, a fake love confession or something. It wouldn’t be the first time his bullies had pulled something like that… Because anyone loving him was that much of a joke, right? With a roll of his eyes, he tore open the white envelope, revealing the black and red card inside.  
__**“Yuuki Mishima:**  
The distortion in your heart has lead you to commit the sin of acting upon your envy and distorted desires. Thus, we will steal every last bit of that distortion from you, and change your heart.  
**-The Phantom Thieves of Hearts”**

Time seemed to stop as Yuuki read the card, eyes wide with disbelief. What… What the hell was this? For a moment he was numb, the words not even registering in his mind, before it hit him all at once. **Shock, anger, betrayal, despair-** He didn’t even notice he was crying until he saw his tears begin to dampen the calling card.

 _How dare they do this to him? After everything he’d done for them?! He hadn’t hurt anybody, had he? Or was he just as deserving of a calling card as all the others- just as deserving as **Kamoshida?** Had he sunk to his level?_ He fell to his knees with a dull thud, crumpling the card in his shaky hands. Before long, another thought overtook him. If Okumura died, then… _Was he going to die, too? Were they going to kill him? Was **Akira** going to kill him?_

A sob escaped him as he thought back on everything that had happened between him and Kurusu- He thought they were friends. He… He _actually_ thought they were **friends.** How could he be so stupid? It was all lies for the sake of stealing his heart… He should’ve seen this coming. Of course someone like _Kurusu_ wouldn’t actually want to spend time with him. But he was a good actor, pretending that he actually cared about him, and Yuuki was foolish enough to let his feelings towards him grow into _something more._ **Stupid, stupid, stupid!**

For a while, all he could do was cry, burying his face in his hands and quietly sobbing to himself, spiraling deeper and deeper into his own despair. However, eventually he had to think about what he should do- Was there anything he could do at this point? He had no idea how the Phantom Thieves actually went about “stealing hearts”, all he knew about that was that it worked and there were casualties sometimes… Was he just going to sit here and let the Phantom Thieves kill him? Oh god, he was _terrified-_ Maybe he should just kill himself before they could get to him? Would that really be better? **Did he deserve to die?**

With a shaky breath, he stood up, glancing around his darkened room. He wasn’t just going to be a sitting duck and wait for the Phantom Thieves to come for him. He wasn’t just going to sit here and take it, like he did with Kamoshida! He hastily grabbed a small suitcase from his closet, shoving in as many outfits and money as he could fit, along with his laptop and chargers. He then ripped out a page of his notebook, quickly scribbling a note he doubted would ever be read:

_“If you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering why I’m gone. All I can say is that I’ve gotten myself into some trouble, and I couldn’t stay here any longer. I don’t know when I’ll be back. Don’t try to find me, please, and don’t call the cops. -Yuuki Mishima”_

With that, he opened his window, quietly climbing out and dropping the short distance to the ground below. He was lucky his room was on the first floor… The sky was completely dark as he hurriedly made his way back to the train station, fearful eyes glancing in every direction to make sure he wasn’t being followed. He couldn’t tell if he was shaking from the chilly night air or from terror as he waited for the last train out of town to arrive. His heart pounded against his ribs as he boarded and sat down- Nobody he was familiar with was on the train, much to his relief.

As his panic began to die down as he watched his neighborhood grow smaller and smaller out of the window, he came to the realization that he had nowhere to go. He really should’ve thought this out more… He quickly downloaded a certain app on his phone, one of those apps where you could pay people to let you stay at their place while they were away. He should have enough money to last him a while… 

He let out a heavy sigh of relief as he found a fairly cheap place at the last minute, sinking down in his seat and trying to take some deep breaths to calm himself down. He was already beginning to regret this rash, panicked decision, but there was no going back now. _None of the Phantom Thieves other targets had fled, right? Maybe… Maybe he would be safe for now._

\---------------------------

“Alright, he’s had to have read it by now! C’mon Akira, it’s getting late- If we don’t steal it now, we’ll never get another chance!” Morgana urged impatiently, much to the agreement of the other Phantom Thieves. They had been waiting in the attic of LeBlanc for quite a while now, unsure of when Mishima would actually read the card. It was a little tricky when they had no way to tell when he’d get home, at least that was Akira’s excuse for being so hesitant.

“Yeah, let’s hurry up and go! We have no idea how long this is gonna take!” Ryuji groaned, tapping his foot. Akira had been trying to put off doing this for as long as he could, a slight sense of dread filling him, but it was clear that he had no choice at this point. It was now or never.

“Fine. Let’s do this.” He finally relented, hesitantly opening the MetaNav app on his phone and entering the keywords for the last time. He hoped Mishima was okay after reading that, but for now all he could do to help him was steal his heart once and for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter was only about like... 1 thing but uh I hope you enjoyed! I honestly didn't plan on having Mishima run off at first but I decided to go with it dfvndkfvk-
> 
> The next chapter will hopefully be out within the next week! Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

The first thing Akira noticed when he once again appeared in front of Mishima’s palace was that it was dark. There were no more camera flashes, no more brightly lit signs, nothing. The only thing lighting the way was the moon in the sky, much larger than it was in the real world, full and shining brightly right above the top of the palace. Despite the lack of the usual flashing cameras, there was still a large crowd of people outside, all quietly muttering to one another, their voices too low to hear anything they were saying. 

It wasn’t just the atmosphere that had changed, either- The glass doors Akira had grown so accustomed to were replaced by heavy steel ones, with two heavily armed guards on either side. “This is gonna be a pain in the ass…” Ryuji sighed, cracking his knuckles before they made their way up to the door. Fighting the guards in the dark was hard, but eventually they managed to defeat them, forcing the doors open. 

The previously busy and bright first floor was now nearly completely void of the usual weak shadows, now populated only by patrolling guards. Another new addition was the security cameras- Akira had no idea what might happen if they were seen by them, but he could assume that it would be best to stay out of sight.

“He really has this place on lockdown…” Haru murmured, frowning a bit. “I wonder what this means for the real Phansite…” 

“Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if he temporarily shut it down after getting that calling card.” Futaba whispered back with a nod. “Anyways, we’d better be careful. It looks like there’s a way we can stay in the camera’s blind spots on our way to the stairs.”

The thought of how Mishima might’ve responded made Akira’s chest ache, but he couldn’t lose his head now, especially when the palace was at 100% security. He needed to focus, otherwise he could get his team into serious trouble. They managed to make their way up the stairs without alerting the guards, sneaking as quickly and quietly as possible to the second floor. Much like the first floor, the museum was now completely empty in terms of low level shadows, but something else had changed as well: the glass cases had been shattered, the objects they had once contained nowhere in sight. Along with this, a sign had been placed in front of the now destroyed displays- **“CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.”**

Akira furrowed his brows at the sight. Many of those cases contained objects relating to their relationship- Did that mean something, or was he thinking too much about this? He really couldn’t concentrate on that now… The entrance into the room the cognitive Futaba was blocked off in a similar fashion. Still avoiding the cameras and mindless guards, they decided to just keep going up to the third floor. After all, it would be best if they stole the treasure as soon as possible, considering how long they’d waited to actually enter the palace. 

For the most part, the third floor seemed the same until they once again entered the statue rooms. The lighting in the gym scene was much darker, and at first glance it looked like the statue of Mishima had disappeared completely, however upon closer inspection it became clear that it had been reduced to shattered pieces on the floor beneath Kamoshida. On the other hand, Makoto’s statue wasn’t destroyed, but it had started to crack, especially around her face. The statues of Kamoshida and Shiho seemed to remain completely unchanged.

“Yikes, do you think he did this himself…?” Futaba muttered aloud, grimacing as she looked down at the shattered pieces of Mishima’s body on the ground. “Either way, this can’t mean anything good.”

“No shit, it doesn’t take a symbolism expert or whatever to figure that out.” Ryuji averted his eyes from the scene, quickly walking to the next door. “C’mon, let’s hurry up and get the treasure already. We don’t have all day, y’know.”

The next scene certainly didn’t help with the uneasy feeling Akira had in his gut. Much like the gym scene, the room was much darker than before, the spotlight from before seemed to have been turned off. Once again, the statue of Mishima had been completely shattered, this time at the heels of Ryuji and Akira, whose statues were now cracked and turned away from the shattered remnants of the Phansite admin. 

_Was this how Mishima saw them now? Did Mishima think they’d turned their backs on him?_ Akira wanted nothing more than to leave the Metaverse and tell Mishima he was wrong, that they didn’t betray him, they were only trying to help him, but… He would have to do that tomorrow. Tonight was their only chance to go after the treasure. 

“Hey Joker, you okay? You don’t look so good.” Ann asked, frowning a bit in concern. Akira quickly nodded, trying to clear his mind.

“I’m fine. Let’s go.” He answered, swiftly making his way past the next door and into the next room as the rest of the Phantom Thieves followed.

 _“Looking for something?”_ A smug voice came from the dark, standing where the treasure had previously been. As Akira’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see it was the cognitive Ryuji, smirking at them with his arms crossed over his chest. “Ha, did you really think that our manager would be stupid enough to keep his most prized possession right where he’d left it? You should know he’s way smarter than that.”

“Damn it!” The real Ryuji exclaimed in frustration, glaring at his double. “I don’t care what you say, we’re still getting that treasure, got it? We kicked your ass last time, so don’t bother trying to get in our way!”

“Psh, as if I’d waste my energy fighting you _now.”_ The cognition rolled his eyes. “The manager knows you’re here now, you know. I’d suggest you scram, unless you plan on dying. He doesn’t take shit like this very lightly.”

“Where is he?” Akira interjected, stone-faced as he stared down the cognition. The false Ryuji laughed, shaking his head at the question.

“Where do you _think_ he is? Jeez, it’s not like it takes a rocket scientist to figure that out! If you get your asses handed to you, you can’t say I didn’t warn you!” He replied with a cocky smile, before he faded into black smoke. 

“Ugh, I hate that guy…” Ryuji muttered as soon as he was gone, before turning to Akira. “Do you think you know where he is?”

“Yeah, I think I know.” Akira nodded, before leading them out of the room. There was only one more floor, after all, that floor consisting of Mishima’s personal room, so that seemed like the obvious answer. “And I think he probably has the treasure with him. It’s unlikely that he’d trust anyone else with it.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Ann agreed as they made their way up the stairs, readying her whip as their leader carefully opened the door. However, much to their surprise, the shadow was nowhere to be found. In fact, the room looked completely undisturbed, not so much as a single throw pillow out of place.

“What the hell? Where is he?” Ryuji was about to start overturning couches to look for him, but Akira motioned them over to the stairs to the rooftop. “Oh. Of course he wants to fight us in the most dangerous place possible, huh…” 

There was a tense silence as they made their way to the roof, though this was interrupted the moment they stepped foot outside. The darkness was suddenly replaced with nearly blinding lights, causing them to all squeeze their eyes shut for a moment as they heard a familiar voice welcome them.

“Ah, so you’ve finally arrived! Ahaha, I doubted you **IMPOSTORS** would make it all the way up here, but I have to say, you’ve impressed me once again!” Mishima’s shadow laughed, his eyes glowing with malice despite the smile on his face. Behind him, they could see half of the roof open up, a stage rising up from underneath the roof. As soon as it was fully revealed, he made his way onto it, taking center stage as a spotlight shone on him. 

The crowd below broke their silence, roaring with cheers and applause as Mishima took the stage, the full set of cognitive Phantom Thieves appearing behind him, all dressed from head to toe in glamorous outfits, as if they were attending a red carpet event. 

“Now, let’s see who will win…” The shadow spoke into a microphone with a confident smirk. _“These **wannabe** ‘Phantom Thieves’, or the real deal?”_

\---------------------------

Yuuki let himself relax for the first time since he’d left home as he locked the door of the apartment behind him, letting out a quiet sigh of relief. _They would never know he was here…_ He was so glad that he’d lucked out on being able to stay here for the night for cheap, otherwise he might still be wandering the streets- Though, that would still be safer than his bedroom. He left his shoes by the door, not bothering to turn on the lights as he wandered the the bedroom. He wouldn’t want anyone knowing he was here, even if it was irrational. 

He collapsed onto the bed as soon as he found it, not caring if he slept in his clothes. With a slight hesitance, he crawled under the covers. It felt so strange to sleep in someone else’s bed… He stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep despite how exhausted he was. He… He’d never felt so **alone** in his life. _He had nobody to confide in, nobody to trust but himself._ That was how it had **always** been, but after having that brief taste of friendship, after finally feeling like he could finally trust someone again only to have it ripped away from him… **The loneliness felt like it was eating him alive.**

_Everything he’d worked for was for gone. His future held **nothing** now._ He could feel more tears begin to fall from his eyes, but he didn’t bother wiping them away. What was he supposed to do now? Even if the Phantom Thieves spared him, there was no way he could become famous now. At this rate, he would remain a nobody for the rest of his life… He didn’t want to go on like that! He _couldn’t!_ A future of being just another face in the crowd, a future where he had to go through life alone… **It was all so hopeless.**

_Why keep going?_ The thought rang over and over again in his mind, causing a sob to escape his throat. _Why continue to live such a **meaningless, pathetic life?** In the end it would all amount to nothing, so what was the point? It’s not like it would affect anything if he ceased to exist. **Nobody would miss him.** If he wanted to be optimistic, maybe he would have better luck in the next life…_

He turned over to bury his face in the pillow, muffling his sobs. How easy it would be to just end this now terrified him. _This apartment was a few floors up, if he just opened the window, then…_ He clung to the pillow tighter, his head throbbing from all the crying he’d done tonight. Despite all the thoughts, despite how tempting it was to just get out of bed and leave himself at the mercy of the concrete below, he managed to keep himself from moving with the sole promise of **“not yet.”** _Maybe tomorrow, but not yet._

He finally fell silent as he succumbed to his exhaustion, his last few tears soaking into the pillow before he passed out. His world may be crumbling around him, and his future may be uncertain, however… _For now, he could finally escape his own mind and rest._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry all the action is near the end of the chapter aghfdhf;; the next chapter will be more exciting! Also I wrote this all in like... 3 hours lol so please excuse me if there's any errors!
> 
> Anyways, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!


	10. Chapter 10

The crowd roared with applause as the cognitive Phantom Thieves made their way off the stage, leaving only the false Akira and Mishima’s shadow onstage. Now that he got a closer look at them, Akira noticed there was something… Different about them this time, other than the red carpet outfits. They were even more puppet-like than before, their skin looking shiny and polished, eyes glossy like that of a dolls. Even more concerning, they were cracked in some places, much like the statues they had seen on the third floor. What did this mean for Mishima’s perception of the Phantom Thieves? Did the calling card change his opinion of them?

Almost as if to purposely interrupt his thoughts, the speakers on the sides of the stage suddenly began to blare music, only getting the crowd even more hyped up for the fight. “Are you ready for this?” The shadow asked the fans, basking in the immediate, deafening cheers he got in response, a twisted grin on his face as he soaked it all in. “Heh, well, if you insist… _Take ‘em out, Phantom Thieves!”_

At the drop of a hat, the cognitive thieves lunged forward, barely giving Akira enough time to react as he came face to face with the false Ryuji, no longer in his prison guard attire from earlier, but in a dress shirt and black vest- It was something he could never imagine the real Ryuji wearing. He ducked as the cognition swung his baton at him, before kicking the backs of his knees, his fall giving him enough time to summon his persona. **“Come, Arsene!”**

For a moment, Mishima’s shadow, who had previously been hyping up the audience, was shocked into silence, staring at Arsene with his mouth agape, before his smile returned to his face, laughing into the microphone. “Ahaha, what’s _this?_ You can’t defeat the Phantom Thieves on your own? Well, I can’t say I’m surprised!” He held the cognitive Akira close to him as he spoke, never moving away from him- Even so, now that he looked closely he could see that even he was beginning to chip and crack, like an old doll. _For some reason, the sight gave him a slight sense of dread…_

The fight raged on, but the cognitive Phantom Thieves were easier to defeat than before, likely because they seemed to be falling apart at the seams. Still, the shadow barely acknowledged the fact he was losing, only continuing to urge the crowd to keep cheering them on and getting them excited for the “grand finale”. _“Haha, come on, these **FAKES** can’t defeat the real Phantom Thieves! **They’re untouchable!”**_ Mishima was almost too enthusiastic, like he was trying to convince himself that what he was saying was true. 

It was only a matter of time until the defeated cognitions were shattered in pieces on the rooftop, Mishima finally falling silent as the music died. Even the crowd below was deathly quiet, not a whisper to be heard. After a long pause, the shadow smiled at them, before he burst into laughter once again, his grip on the doll-like cognition of Akira so tight that he began to break. 

“Ahahaha! So you _are_ the real Phantom Thieves! Honestly, I should’ve seen this coming, but I didn’t want to believe that you’d actually come for me, after all I’ve done for you. Well, I guess it can’t be helped. _You never appreciated my hard work anyways.”_ He gave them a sickly smile as he pulled a pistol out from behind his back, before putting a bullet in the cognitive Akira’s head, sending bits of porcelain flying as he hit the ground and shattered. “If you really hate me that much, _then so be it.”_ Black smoke gathered at his feet as he stepped down from the stage, as if he were about to transform, although his form didn’t change at all. As soon as he was in front of them, he pointed his pistol at the thieves, trying to mask the fear in his eyes with false confidence. **“Come on, do your worst!”**

Akira opened his mouth to try and tell him he was wrong, that they didn’t hate him, that they were only doing this for his own good, but before he could speak, Mishima fired his gun at him. He managed to dive out of the bullet’s path before it hit him, but even though he was shot at, he couldn’t bring himself to attack Mishima. The other Phantom Thieves went on without him, using their personas to attack and defend themselves against the gunfire, but all Akira could do was watch. 

_“What have I ever done to you?!” “Haven’t I already been put through enough **pain?!”** “I didn’t **hurt** anyone!” “This isn’t fair!”_ Every scream that came from the shadow was painful just to hear, Akira’s heart torn by how betrayed he sounded, how scared and angry he was. He could feel a lump forming in his throat as tears stung at the corners of his eyes- He couldn’t stand it. He knew it wasn’t the real Mishima, but it was so _convincing-_

“C’mon, Joker!” Ann’s hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts. “You’ve just been standing here this whole time, what’s gotten into you?”

“I… Sorry, I just…” He shook his head, trying to clear his mind and ignore the ache in his chest. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I just…”

“It’s because you love him, right?” Ann interrupted, chuckling a bit at his surprised expression, before giving him a knowing smile. “Listen, I’m not blind, Joker. And I know this is hard for you- I get it! I can’t imagine how hard it would be to see someone you love like this. But we have to do this. Remember, this isn’t the real him.”

_He… Loved him._ It was like something finally clicked in his mind at those words- He’d never really… Been in love like this before, but she was right. _He loved Mishima._ He felt a bit silly for coming to this realization so late, but it was better late than never, he supposed. “Right. Let’s finish this.” He nodded, taking a deep breath before joining the fight again.

Akira ended up delivering the final blow against the shadow, knocking him down and sending his gun sliding across the roof. For a moment he was still, completely silent, before a hoarse whisper rose from his throat. _“I… Lost…”_ He let out a resigned chuckle, slowly sitting up. “Ahaha, _of course_ I lost… I’ve never been anything but a **loser.** I was nothing without the Phantom Thieves. I just wanted to be…” He trailed off, before looking over to the Phantom Thieves impatiently. “Well? Just get this over with.”

“Get what over with? Stealing your treasure?” Ryuji asked, earning him a glare from the shadow.

“No, idiot! Hurry up and kill me! That’s what you’re here to do, right?” He shouted, catching everyone off-guard. He looked annoyed at their dumbfounded expressions, as if that should’ve been obvious. “Go on, do it! **Kill me like you killed Okumura!”**

“What? We didn’t kill Okumura!” Morgana objected, looking offended that Mishima would even think that. 

“Listen, you don’t need to deny it. In fact, I _agree_ with you- **He deserved to die. Justice is served.”** The shadow shrugged. “Honestly, the only thing I was upset about was that Kamoshida didn’t die too. I can rest easy knowing he’s _rotting away_ in jail, but still.”

“Mishima, all we need is your treasure. Just hand it over and this can end here, okay?” Makoto spoke calmly, trying to get him to cooperate, but this only seemed to aggravate him more.

“Oh, cut the **bullshit** already! Seriously, is that your plan? You’re just going to steal my only dream and then force me to continue suffering a **meaningless** existence?” He spat bitterly, trying to stand up, but he fell back down to his knees- His leg seemed to be hurt, looking liked cracked glass. “Can’t you see what this means for me? I’m never going to achieve anything! This was my _one chance!_ What am I supposed to do now, huh? Just resign myself to being a **nobody** again, after getting _so close_ to finally being recognized? **Screw that!** I’d rather **die** than go back to that life!”

There were now tears falling down his cheeks, faster than he could wipe them away, hanging his head to try and hide his face. “Mishima, you don’t-” Akira spoke gently, taking a step forward to try and calm him down, but he was quickly cut off.

**“SHUT UP! Stay away from me!** What would _you_ know?!” The shadow scuttled backwards to try and keep some distance between them, arm held up defensively, like he thought Akira was about to hit him. “I actually thought we were _friends,_ you know! I thought you might actually _like_ me! God, I was so **stupid…”**

“We _are_ friends. You’re not stupid, Mishima…” He took another step closer to him, before kneeling down to his level and pulling him into a tight hug before he could protest. The moment he made contact with him, it was like he could feel everything Mishima had tried to repress- _His fear, his anger, his anxiety, his self-loathing…_ He felt it all. 

“What are you doing?! **Let go of me!”** The shadow tried to squirm away at first, before realizing it was futile and finally seeming to relax, burying his face in Akira’s shoulder. For a moment they were still, before Mishima finally pulled away and shoved something into Akira’s gloved hands- The shiny, silver microphone he had been speaking into earlier- _His treasure._

“Yuuki-”

**“Just go.”**

Silently, Akira stood up, rejoining the rest of the Phantom Thieves as the Palace began to crumble beneath their feet. There was no time to talk as they rushed down the stairs as fast as they could, trying not to get hit by falling debris as they escaped. It wasn’t long before they were back in the attic of LeBlanc, and the palace was no more. Instead of a microphone, Akira now held a fake version of a cell phone that he instantly recognized as the one Mishima was constantly on. 

“Nice job out there, Joker!” Morgana meowed, hopping on the bed and yawning. It was clear everyone in the room was exhausted.

“Yeah, that was some pretty heavy shit…” Ryuji huffed, stretching a bit and yawning as well. “Man, I’m so tired… We can celebrate this weekend, how about that?”

“Sounds good! You up for that, Akira?” Ann asked, the leader giving a slightly disinterested nod in response.

“Yeah, sure.” It was hard to be excited for any sort of celebration when he still felt so worried about his friend. What his shadow said back there… Did he really want to die? Maybe he was worrying too much, but it was concerning, that was for sure.

Akira laid down as soon as everyone left, before taking out his phone and opening up his text messages. Nothing new from Mishima… With a frown, he typed out a quick message.

**You:** hey, are you doing alright?  
**You:** im sorry if I woke you up just now  
**You:** but im really worried about you

He waited a while, but there was no response. Hopefully that just meant he was asleep at the moment… It was fairly late, after all. With a quiet sigh, he turned off his phone, before rolling onto his side. The awful sense of dread in his chest just wouldn’t go away, no matter how much he told himself that Mishima was fine, that he was just resting. The shadow’s words kept echoing around in his mind- _“Hurry up and kill me!” “Kill me like you killed Okumura!” “I’d rather die!” “Stay away from me!”_ It was painful to hear, honestly… He would have to meet up with him tomorrow and try to comfort him. It wasn’t long before he felt himself drifting off, finally letting himself rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, but I hope you enjoy regardless!


	11. Chapter 11

Akira was in a daze from the moment he woke up, completely unfocused as he got ready for school. After all, how could he concentrate after what happened last night? Not to mention that Mishima still hadn’t answered his messages… He was always on his phone, so he couldn’t imagine that he’d allowed his phone to die, or that he just hadn’t seen them. It was worrisome, to say the least, but there wasn’t much he could do about it until he saw Mishima in person again. 

It felt so strange to just… Return to life as usual. No matter what happened during their palace infiltrations or trips to mementos, they were just regular teenagers again the next morning. The trip to school was quiet, Akira simply staring off into space as Morgana slept in his bag, still tired from last night's battle. He watched the door as soon as he got to class, intently waiting for Mishima to show up, just hoping he was running late again- He just wanted to see him, to know he was okay, that was all. Even if Mishima was angry and refused to speak to him, that would be better than being left with this lingering dread he’d had ever since his shadow had practically begged the Phantom Thieves to kill him. 

His heart sunk as the bell rung with still no sign of his friend, checking his phone again- Nothing. _Was he skipping school today? Would he really go that far to avoid them? What if he’d hurt himself…?_ All his classes were a blur, the shadow’s words rattling around in his mind as he anxiously stared at the clock, waiting for lunch break. 

\---------------------------

“Dude, where the hell did he run off to?” Ryuji asked in between bites of his lunch, clearly frustrated with the situation. 

“He’s probably just staying home. Changes of heart take time to come into effect, and people can act a bit strange in the days leading up to it.” Morgana meowed from inside Akira’s bag, which Akira quickly tried to cover up by faking a cough. 

“Right, right. Should we pay him a visit after school or somethin’?” The blonde suggested, having noticed how worried Akira seemed. “Y’know, I think it’d probably be best if we like, explained ourselves to him. He’s probably real upset about the whole thing…” 

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Hopefully his parents won’t be suspicious of us just showing up out of nowhere…” Ann agreed, taking a sip of her drink. “How does that sound, Akira?”

“Sounds good.” He nodded, thinking a moment before continuing. “Should we get the others before going over there?”

“Mm, nah, I think it’d be better if it were just us.” Ryuji replied, leaning back in his chair. “We wouldn’t wanna like, overwhelm him or anything. Plus, it would be kinda weird if a group of seven teenagers they’ve never seen before just suddenly showed up, right? Not to mention Akira and I are the only ones that have actually hung out with him.”

“Alright, it’s settled then. We’ll head over there as soon as school ends.” Ann concluded, and just as she spoke, the bell signaling lunch was over rang. Akira returned to his seat, feeling a bit better than he had earlier, but there was still a knot in his stomach. He was probably fine, but still… He couldn’t be settled until he knew for sure.

\---------------------------

Yuuki woke up with a groan, turning over to get the sunlight out of his eyes. He sat up after a moment, groggily looking around the unfamiliar room. Now that the sun as illuminating the room, he could clearly make out the decor he hadn’t paid any mind to last night. He looked at the clock- School would’ve already started by now… He was exhausted, but seeing that he was alive, he felt… Relieved, at least for now. The Phantom Thieves hadn’t gotten to him yet. Maybe running away had worked… Though he couldn’t be totally sure of his safety yet, seeing as how long it took for Okumura to die after the calling card was sent. 

… What was he supposed to do now? He hadn’t thought this far ahead. He didn’t have anything to do. No school, no homework, no volleyball, no Phansite… Strangely enough, despite his remaining fear, he felt… Free. He reached over to grab his phone- He had a few texts from Kurusu. He ignored them, turning his phone off again and setting it aside. Why should he answer him? Why should Kurusu care where he was or how he was doing? His chest ached slightly at the thought of him- Those damn feelings wouldn’t go away, no matter how stupid he knew they were- but he resisted the urge to text him back. 

He stretched as he got out of bed, changing into one of the many casual outfits he’d packed, before brushing his teeth and heading out into the city, phone in his pocket. He always found that taking walks like this calmed him down, and after all, he had nothing else to do. His stomach growled as he passed the restaurants- He hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday, but he figured he’d better conserve his money in order to be able to pay to rent the apartment another night. These things were kinda expensive, after all, and he could go without food for a while… 

\---------------------------

_Knock knock knock._ Akira stepped back awkwardly as he waited for the door to be answered, Ann and Ryuji behind him. The only way he could describe Mishima’s house was… Average. Nothing in particular stood out about it, almost identical to the other houses in the neighborhood. The sound of quiet footsteps came from inside the house, until a confused looking woman answered the door. Yuuki clearly took more after his mother, the woman having the same dark blue hair and soft brown eyes as their friend. She appeared to be in her mid-40s, her jacket making it look like she’d just gotten home from work.

“Who are you?” She asked, furrowing her brows as she looked them over, looking like she was trying to see if she remembered them from somewhere.

“We’re here to see Yuuki Mishima? We’re his classmates- His friends.” Ann explained, stepping forward. “He wasn’t at school today, so we wanted to check up on him. Is he sick?”

“He wasn’t at school today?” The woman seemed even more confused for a moment, and Akira felt a twinge of irritation at this. She was his mother, she should know whether or not her son was at school, right? 

“Um… Yeah, ya didn’t know?” Ryuji questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Well, I leave early in the morning, and Yuuki is very… _Independent,_ I suppose.” She sighed, before continuing. “He wakes up on his own, makes his own breakfast and lunch, rarely eats dinner with us… We hardly ever see him these days, you know. He’s always in town or cooped up in his room. I guess that just means he’s ready for adult life…” 

Akira was starting to see why he might think his parents didn’t care about him. It sounded like they barely spent any time together… “Is he home? May we see him?” He asked, and the woman nodded, stepping aside to let them inside.

“He’s probably in his room. He probably just forgot to call in sick…” She said, gesturing down the hall to where his room was. The three of them thanked her and made their way down to his bedroom, before Akira lightly knocked on the door.

“Mishima? Are you in there?” He asked softly, but he was only met with silence. He was about to knock again, but before he could, Ryuji stepped in front of him.

“Alright, we’re comin’ in!” The blonde announced, before swinging the door open and letting himself in. However, his enthusiasm faded as soon as he entered. “What the hell…?” 

Mishima was nowhere to be found, his dresser drawers left open, clearly emptied of their contents, and there was an empty spot on his desk where he could assume his computer usually was. Most noticeably, the window had been left open, letting the cool evening breeze in. 

“What? Where could he have gone?” Ann asked, before spotting the messily scribbled note and picking it up. Her concerned expression shifted to alarm as she read it, blue eyes widening. “He ran away?!”

“Wait, what?! For real?!” Ryuji stared in disbelief, before taking the note and reading it himself. “Damn it! How’re we supposed to find him?!”

Akira’s heart wrenched in his chest as soon as the news hit him, his head reeling with guilt and fear. _Was Mishima so afraid of them that he didn’t feel safe in his own home?_ He could only imagine how betrayed and alone he must feel right now, away from home without anyone to turn to- _What if he didn’t have somewhere to stay? What if something happened to him while he was gone?_ **This was all his fault-** If he had just talked to him before giving him the calling card, if he only knew how he would react, then this never would’ve happened. 

“... I messed up.” Was all he could say for a moment, putting on his best poker face to hide how distraught he was. Ann was about to speak, probably to console him, but he cut in again before she could. “I messed up, but I’m going to fix this. I don’t know how yet, but we’ll bring him home.”

“That’s our Joker!” Ryuji grinned, giving him a slap on the back. “And hey, it’s not just your fault, y’know. I probably should’ve seen this comin’ too, but we can’t change the past, so let’s just hurry up and track him down, alright?”

“Right!” Ann gave him a reassuring smile. “Plus, I think I have an idea. Mishima always has his phone on him, right? We could ask Futaba if there’s a way to track his phone or something and find where he is that way. I don’t know if it’s possible, but…” 

“That might work. Should we meet up at LeBlanc, like usual?” Akira asked, and his friends nodded. 

“Yeah, I’ll stay behind and talk to Mishima’s mom. You guys go on ahead and tell the others to hurry over, okay?” Ann replied.

“Gotcha! Good luck with that!” Ryuji gave her a thumbs up, before the two of them left, leaving Ann to come up with some sort of excuse for Mishima’s absence without revealing that they were the Phantom Thieves. 

\---------------------------

Akira sat down on his bed as he waited for the rest of the Phantom Thieves to show up, resting his head in his hand at staring down at the floor. He still felt awful about this whole mess… It seemed like his mind couldn’t stop thinking of all the worst case scenarios, all the ways Mishima could’ve gotten hurt, whether it be by his own hand or someone else’s. If he were alone he would probably be crying right now, but he needed to be a leader, for Mishima’s sake. 

“Hey man,” Ryuji started after he finished texting the group chat about the situation, sitting down next to him. “I know you’re like, super worried and down and the dumps ‘n shit about this- I mean… Ugh, I’m no good at this, but what I’m trying to say is that no matter how bad it seems right now, it’s gonna be fine, y’know?” He paused for a moment, unsure of what to say, before continuing. “I mean hey, if he’s gonna listen to anyone, it’d be you! And he’s a smart guy, I’m sure he didn’t go and do anything too stupid, yeah?”

“Thank you, Ryuji…” He replied quietly, lifting his head slightly to look at him. “I just… I’m really worried about him, after all those things his shadow said the other night. I can’t imagine how he must feel, and… I mean, even if he is okay, I really… I really hope I didn’t ruin our friendship.” 

“Are you kidding? That kid loves you!” The blonde grinned at him, putting an arm around his shoulder. “I mean, have you seen the way he looks at you? Seriously, he looks at you like you’re his whole world. For real, it makes me wish I had someone that felt that way about me. Once we explain why we had to steal his heart and apologize for not like, handing it to him in person and actually explaining it to him before, I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“You really think so?” Akira asked, earning him a playful slug on the shoulder.

“Hell yeah I think so! I wouldn’t lie to you, y’know?” He laughed, before becoming a bit more serious again. “We’ll fix this together, alright? Try not to place all the blame on yourself.” He then pulled Akira into a slightly awkward but still comforting hug, patting him on the back. “... If you’re gonna cry, you should probably get that outta the way now. I’m sure you don’t wanna start crying in front of everyone else.”

“... Thank you. It really means a lot…” Akira could feel his eyes beginning to water, letting his head rest on the blonde’s shoulder. “Thanks for being my friend, Ryuji.”

“Hey now, no need to thank me.” Ryuji chuckled quietly. “We’re friends to the end, y’know? I’ll even come visit once you move back outta here, whether you like it or not.”

Akira managed to laugh a bit at that, wiping his eyes. “Pfft, you’d better.”

“Heyyy, we’re here!” They heard Futaba’s voice call from downstairs, and he quickly pulled away from Ryuji, straightening himself out. Now was his time to be a leader.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long!   
> Anyways, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!


	12. Chapter 12

“Wait, what?! He ran away?!” Haru exclaimed, putting a hand over her mouth in surprise. The rest of the Phantom Thieves seemed equally shocked, aside from Akira, Ann, and Ryuji, a stunned silence falling over the room for a moment, before Ann began to explain.

“Right. He wasn’t at school today, and his mom hasn’t seen him since last night- He even left a note saying that he was leaving and didn’t know when he’d be back, so we know he wasn’t just skipping school…” She sighed, looking downcast. “We’re not sure where he went, but we were hoping that Futaba could track his phone or something- Is that possible?”

“Track his phone?” Futaba tilted her head, thinking for a moment, before giving Ann a cheeky grin. “Yeah, yeah, I think I could do that! So that’s why you told me to bring my laptop, huh?” She opened the bag she had slung over her shoulder, pulling out a sleek black laptop and plugging it into the wall. “Akira, you’ve got Nishima’s phone number, right?”

“Yeah, it’s right here.” He handed her his phone, Mishima’s contact pulled up. He honestly had no idea what she was doing, but she looked very concentrated, squinting at the screen as her fingers flew across the keyboard. 

“Aaaand we’re done!” Futaba smirked triumphantly, giving them a thumbs up. It was a bit scary how easy it seemed for her to track someone down… “He’s not too far away, actually- Just one town over. We can get there by train pretty fast.”

“Whew, I was afraid he was gonna be like, across the country or somethin’...” Ryuji breathed a sigh of relief, tense shoulders relaxing a bit. “Should we all go or what? I mean, we do have school tomorrow, so I get it if ya can’t come with.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll have to stay behind for this one…” Haru admitted, looking a bit guilty. “I really do wish I could help, though.”

“I’m afraid I can’t either… I do wish you the best of luck, however.” Yusuke added, brushing his navy hair out of his face as he spoke.

“Don’t worry about it.” Akira gave them both a reassuring smile, before turning to the rest of the Phantom Thieves. “Are we ready to go? We need to find him as soon as possible, so…” 

“Right, let’s go.” Makoto nodded, already heading towards the stairs, the others quickly following her. They parted ways with Yusuke and Haru, before heading down to the train station, a thick silence in the air as they got on the next train. Worries kept echoing in Akira’s mind as they waited for their stop- He really, _really_ hoped he was safe… 

\---------------------------

Yuuki glanced down at his phone as he felt it buzz in his hand, noticing Kurusu had texted him again. This was the most anyone’s ever texted him without him texting them first… Of course that would only happen once he went missing, and Kurusu felt obligated to pretend he was worried about him. Whatever, it didn’t matter. He wasn’t getting a response, as tempting as it was to read the message. He slipped his phone back in his pocket, letting his tense shoulders relax as he just sat on the bench, watching people pass by.

Nobody seemed to even realize he was there- It wasn’t much different from home here, in that sense. He made sure he scanned each face that passed by, just in case the Phantom Thieves had somehow figured out where he was. Was that Kurusu? No. Was the blonde girl who just passed him Ann? Definitely not. It felt a bit ridiculous, but he couldn’t help it- He had to make sure he was safe, that he wasn’t being followed.

His stomach growled as the wind wafted the smell of food from a nearby restaurant in his direction, so hungry that he was beginning to feel nauseous. He supposed feeling sick was a good thing in a way, at least then he would be less tempted to waste his money. He could buy himself something small to eat tomorrow, but he needed to save his money for now… Ugh, maybe he should go back to his room and lay down. He couldn’t feel sick if he was asleep… 

Well, at least he got some fresh air. With a tired sigh, he dragged himself back to the apartment, glancing over his shoulder often to make sure there wasn’t anyone following him. He closed the door behind him as he entered the apartment once more, heading back to his room to lay down, however a knock at the door nearly caused him to jump out of his skin.

“Mishima? Are you there?” He recognized the voice as Kurusu’s, his heart racing in his chest. How had he found him? Who else was with him? What was going to happen to him now? The knocks might as well have been as loud as canons; he could barely hear himself think as he frantically shoved his clothing and any items he’d taken out back into his bag. 

“We’re worried about you, man.” Another voice- Ryuji’s- sounded from the other side of the door. Damn it, how the hell was he supposed to get out of here? His eyes darted around- The fire escape! Perfect! Some rational part of him told him that he should just answer the door, that this was crazy, but the fear took over and he threw open the window, climbing out onto the fire escape and making his way to the ground as quickly as he could. They should still be knocking at the door, so he should have time enough to briskly walk away- He didn’t want to cause a scene, after all.

\---------------------------

“Do you think we should just… Go in?” Ann suggested hesitantly, brows furrowed with concern. “It doesn’t seem like he’s going to be answering anytime soon.”

Before anyone could answer, Akira reached for the doorknob- Much to his surprise, it was unlocked. That would save them some time, thankfully, the sooner they could reach Mishima the better. “Mishima, we’re coming in.” He warned him, before opening the door. At first it seemed empty, entirely normal, however it didn’t take long for him to notice the window was open- The window that lead to the fire escape.

“Damn it, did he run off again? Why is he so scared of us?” Ryuji grumbled, before running over to the window, eyes scanning the crowd of people below before he climbed out, motioning for the others to follow. “C’mon, he can’t be far now, we gotta hurry!”

“Wh- We’re seriously chasing him down?!” Makoto exclaimed, however she followed despite her clear displeasure at the situation, along with the rest of the group. “Honestly, I can’t believe this…” 

“There’s chase scenes all the time in video games, get used to it!” Futaba huffed as she ran down the fire escape, seeming a little out of breath. “Okay, let’s split up! Ryuji and Akira go to the left, and I’ll go with Makoto and Ann to the right!” It wasn’t often that Futaba acted like the leader, but nobody argued, simply nodding and heading in either direction. 

\---------------------------

“Mishima? Where are you? C’mon, we just wanna talk to you!” Ryuji called, pausing for a moment before correcting himself. “I know that sounds kinda threatening but I mean talk like, actually talk! With words!”

“I know you’re scared, but please talk to us- This is all a misunderstanding, and I know I made a mistake by not explaining it to you, but please…” It felt like Akira was talking to dead air, but he didn’t give up, hoping his friend could hear him. The two of them wandered around the area for a while, calling out to him- Just as it was beginning to feel hopeless, a sound caught their attention: It sounded like someone was… Sick?

Akira furrowed his brows, following the noise while Ryuji trailed behind him- And lo and behold, there was Mishima, hunched over a garbage can, trembling slightly. It seemed he was gagging and dry heaving, but nothing was coming up. “Yuuki! Are you okay?!” Akira rushed to his side, causing the other to flinch away from him, hand clamped over his mouth.

“St-stay away from- hrk!” His stomach lurched again, squeezing his eyes shut. “Just… L-leave me alone, please…”

“Mishima, you gotta chill out, we’re here to help you.” Ryuji frowned at him, looking concerned. “Seriously, are you okay? Do you need to go to a doctor?”

“I… I’m fine, I just- I just haven’t eaten in a while, so I feel nauseous…” Mishima explained, shaking his head a bit. “Are you- are you here to t-take my heart?” He asked, leaning against the side of the building behind them, keeping his hand over his mouth as he spoke. 

“We’ve already done that.” Akira kept his voice calm, hoping that would help to calm Mishima down. “Is that why you ran away? You didn’t want your heart stolen?”

“I didn’t want to **die,** that’s why!” He suddenly burst out, clenching his jaw and fists. “I saw what happened to Okumura after you took his heart! If I got a calling card, then I must be just as bad as him, right? So why wouldn’t that happen to me too? M-maybe it’s **selfish** of me to want to keep living when I know the world would be better without me, but-!” He cut himself off when his stomach lurched again, hunching over and clutching his stomach. 

Both Akira and Ryuji stayed silent for a moment, a bit surprised at his outburst, before the leader put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, looking intensely into his eyes. “Yuuki, listen to me. We didn’t kill Okumura, and there’s no way in hell that we ever thought of you as being deserving of death, or even as a bad person. You may have had a palace, but… You just had your cognition twisted, if that makes sense, and we needed to set it right. You just made a mistake, that’s all- You’re a wonderful person, and I mean it when I say that the world is a better place with you in it.”

“You’re- you’re _lying-”_ Mishima choked out, trying to fight the tears in his eyes. There was no way that could be true- All he did was try to help people, to try and be like the Phantom Thieves, but he managed to mess even that up by getting tangled in his own selfish desires. He was about to object more, however the moment Akira pulled him into a tight hug he melted, burying his face in his shoulder. 

“I’m not lying to you. I promise.” He murmured quietly, running a hand through his navy hair and holding him close. 

“Hey, you said you haven’t eaten, right?” Ryuji finally spoke up, giving Mishima his usual cheeky grin. “Let’s get somethin’ in your stomach, then! You’ll feel way better after that, ‘nd there are plenty of restaurants around here.”

“Y-yeah, that… That sounds good.” The admin nodded, finally pulling away from Akira. “Uh, s-sorry about all this… I didn’t mean to yell at you guys, or run away, or put you all through so much trouble…” 

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” The blonde reassured him, giving him a pat on the back. “I mean, I would’ve been scared as hell too after seein’ what happened to Okumura. That shit was terrifying, even for us… So like, I get it.”

“All that ‘trouble’ is worth it if it brings you back, Mishima.” Akira smiled, ruffling his hair a bit. He was so relieved that he was alright… He wasn’t doing so well, obviously, but at least he wasn’t hurt. 

“Hehe, thanks, you guys…” Mishima chuckled a bit, wiping his eyes. He really was lucky that they cared enough about him to come find him (as concerning as it was that they were able to find him so fast). Before he’d met the Phantom Thieves, he was sure nobody would’ve noticed if he’d gone missing- He bet even now, his parents weren’t concerned about where he was. Well, screw them. Right now, what really mattered to him was that he was forgiven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My gosh, I'm so sorry for the long wait on this one, and I'm very sorry if it seems rushed! I've been busy with vacation and exams at school, so I didn't have much time to write, much less proofread ;;w;; Well, I hope you enjoyed anyways! 
> 
> The next chapter will likely be the last chapter, so thank you for your continued support! I couldn't have made it this far without all your wonderful comments and support ^^


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